18+ for smut themes.
Hey there! I’m Septimus (M) And it’s nice to meet you!
Today I’m coming forward with the desire to RP as an OC in OC x OC or OC x CC harem based prompts.(I’m greedy, I know but what’s RP without wish fulfilment?)
For my replies I only write in first person and the length of my replies vary from a few sentences to a few solid paragraphs depending on how much is going on in a scene. I figured I’d put a fair warning here that if you reply with low detail, I won’t be rping with you. I’m not looking for a few words as a response. While that might be your thing, that's fine and power to you! It’s just not mine.
I’m someone who likes a nice balance of build-up and story to go along with the smut. I’m not the biggest fan of constant sex, or sex that starts within one or two replies. I also like cute dates and moments, and love to type out action driven moments. Of course this isn’t exactly applicable to every starter.
What I look for in a partner:
Third Person responses (Unless you're playing an OC among the harem)
Don’t take control of my character at any point. Self explanatory but if you write that he does something or has a reaction to something I didn’t write myself I’m not going to be rping with you. You usually get one chance with this and little to no warnings.
Active: I don't wanna be waiting a week for a single reply with no warning. I understand if you're busy outside of RP but please let me know so I'm not just waiting around and twiddling my thumbs. If I go a few days up to a week without hearing from you at all I'm going to assume you're no longer interested. This is once the RP has started. I hear nothing from you I will simply assume you aren’t interested unless you state otherwise. This is just me making sure my friends list isn’t cluttered and I’m not being ghosted. :)
Communicative: It kinda links in with the other but if you're not feeling the RP or you're busy. I'm not gonna get mad or anything I'm an understanding person! Also we don’t both need to be online to RP I generally go off the idea that we both reply whenever we’re able to and the other will get to it once we’re up for it/online.
Please for the love of god don’t spam me every 5 mins. Sending “Hellos?” “?”, ask me if I’m busy, or send a message, delete it and then resend it if I don’t reply right away. It comes across as extremely pushy. I’m not ignoring you if I don’t reply, I’m probably busy. And if I come back to a bunch of spam or keep hearing the notification noise while I’m trying to do something else, it annoys me. As it would anyone I’m sure. Spamming me is a quick way to get blocked. You get one chance with this and no warnings. Sending a bunch of ideas/thoughts about the RP is fine though.
Detailed responses: Anything just around a paragraph (4+ sentences though it depends on the RP AND my response.) is enough, but more is always very much appreciated.
I don’t do group RPS and I don’t play as female characters.
Now to get into the meat and potatoes, I’ll post my kinks and limits. There’s a lot there and not all of them will be applicable to the starters. Aside from Harems. Those are compulsory.

Kinks:
Harems – (Which doesn’t mean playing a bunch of characters at once. If you prefer to play 1 character per scene that’s fine, though the minimum amount of overall characters I’ll take in a harem/RP would be 4 though more is heavily preferred! This kink is currently compulsory for all my rps)
Outercourse (Which is stuff like titjobs, thigh jobs, grinding, hot dogging, that kinda thing), Risky/public spaces. (Places you can get caught but don’t. Toilet stalls, changing booths, that kinda thing), Facials, Freckles (Face and body), Big, nicely shaped bums (Especially if they jiggle… just an overall fan of the jiggle if I’m honest), Creampies, Cum on tits/body, big cumshots, thigh high socks, showewater sex (places like pools, showers, hot tubs that kinda things, and a Mutual desire for sex. I also don’t mind pubic hair as long as it’s not overly bushy, trimmed stuff is nice and preferred! :) I’m also into the rougher stuff. Things like Anal, rough sex. Choking, Spanking all that as well!
Limits:
Pregnacy, which also includes lactation (Hard limit, sorry), Vomit, Piss, Blood, toilet stuff, knife/gunplay, noncon, Gangbangs (reverse gangbangs with females is fine), non hetero pairings, Rimming/pegging, cartoonishly large proportions, NTR, (There could be more that I haven’t thought of, if you’re unsure feel free to ask)
There could be more that I might be into, that hasn’t been listed so feel free to ask about it and we can work something out. And without further ado let’s head straight into it.

I’ve made an easy access list for you to read through to see if anything piques your interest before you have to scroll through this abundant list.
Of course, due to reddit’s character limits I’ll just be posting a few of the starters below, so you can get a handle on my writing, any other ideas you might be interested in feel free to shoot me a PM and I can send those to you!

Anime/Fandom/Game Ideas:
Idea 1: My Harem (Hero) Academia.
Idea 2: One Piece.
Idea 3: Jujutsu Kaisen.
Idea 4: Fire Force.
Idea 5: Demon Slayer.
Idea 6: Attack on Titan.
Idea 7: Fairy Tail.
Idea 8: Naruto.
Idea 9: Bleach.
Idea 10: Fullmetal Alchemist
Idea 11: Chainsaw Man.
Idea 12: Sword Art Online.
Idea 13: Tokyo Ghoul.
Idea 14: Black Clover.
Idea 15: Darling in the Franxx.
Idea 16: Pokemon.
Idea 17: Avatar the Last Airbender.
Idea 18: DC Titans.
Idea 19: Spiderman.
Idea 20: Persona (Girls from 3, 4 and 5.)
Idea 21: Final Fantasy. (7/14)
Idea 22: Baldur's Gate 3.
Idea 23: World of Warcraft.
Idea 24: The Witcher 3.
Idea 25: League of Legends.
Idea 26: Cyberpunk 2077.
Idea 27: Apex Legends.
Idea 28: Overwatch.
Idea 29: Mass Effect
Idea 30: Harry Potter.
OC Ideas:
Idea 31: Scifi Space Crew. (Can be used for Mass Effect)
Idea 32: Bladebreaker. (Can also be used for Xenoblade 2)
Idea 33: Fantasy Harem Adventure.
Idea 34: Tokyo Demon Hunters.
Idea 35: Fallout/Nuclear Apocalypse.
Idea 36: Zombie Apocalypse.
Idea 37: Only man of the town.

Idea 1: My Harem (Hero) Academia.
(So for this one, my character will be a transfer into class 1-A. From Shiketsu. His power is that of Persuasion. With the power he’s able to convince someone to do something as if it’s their own free will. That being said he’s rather hesitant to use it on other people and due to the stigma around his quirk he’s been seen as an outcast and a freak and has been constantly harassed due to the nature of his quirk.)
(The idea I have for this RP is that the girls of class 1-A will help him come out of his shell and accept that his quirk isn’t the villainous thing that other people have led him on to be. This is more of a “Love Route” though I suppose a more selfish route is also available! Also if you wanted to branch out to internships with heroes like Mirko and Mt Lady that’s available too! It’s currently set after the training camp arc and will continue from there.)
Starter: It was a day which started like most others in Class 1-A. The students got ready in the dorms and headed to class to chat among themselves while they waited for Aizawa to enter. However, unlike most days there seemed to be an extra desk placed in the room. The seat caused some confusion which didn’t last long as the first bell rang and Aizawa entered the room.
“Morning everyone.” He stated in his mainly bored and sleepy tone which seemed to sound like he was stifling a yawn. “Today we’ve got a new student transferring in from another school. He’s from Shiketsu, some of you may recognize the name since it’s got the same level of prestige as U.A. but regardless, make sure he feels welcome.” He said, pointing a sweeping stare at everyone and finally resting on the problem student of the U.A class Bakugo.
With that he fell silent and I felt it was my cue to enter. Swallowing a little at the nerves I steeled them quickly and entered. Nervously my blue eyes sweep over some of the familiar faces in the room. Many of the students had standout performances in the UA sports festival and as well in the news reports about the villain attack on the training camp.
I had a lot to live up to if I wanted to join these legends in training but regardless, I was determined to do just that. Breathing a little and shifting my auburn hair from my eyes I smiled the best I could. “My name is Schwarzer, Chris Schwarzer. It’s a pleasure to meet you all.” I say bowing to the class.
Satisfied with the introduction, Aizawa nodded to the spare seat in the room. Taking that as an order I nodded back and headed over to my seat sitting down and getting my books out. Curiously I turned to the seat next to me noticing one of the girls in the class and gave her a slight smile as Aizawa began his lesson.

Idea 2: One Piece.
(I’m not so sure how I want to approach this one, however I’ll jump in and give it a go. Much like the MHA starter this character will have the power of Persuasion. Having eaten the Persua-Persua fruit. I’m thinking for now either he makes a crew with characters from the story, or he joins the Straw Hats and goes on adventures with them. (Obviously this doesn’t have to be canon and completely made up as we go.) Either way I’m super keen on this since I love One Piece to death. I also have a list of potential crewmates I can send!)
Starter: Adventure! Freedom, Treasure and Booze! These were all the things a pirate needed in life. And exactly what every pirate set out to obtain. Two years after the events at Marineford where Strawhat Luffy himself took on the government with an army behind him, and the Whitebeard Pirates at his side in order to rescue his brother… And two years since I felt inspired enough in his absence to set forth on my own.
I gathered up a strong crew and made a name for myself. My alias, Silver Tongue Schwarzer, is a nice title which rolled off the tongue. I had no issues amassing a sizable bounty at 90 million berries. While it wasn’t as grand as other pirates, the world government saw enough of a threat in my power to provide a bounty that large. Of course, had my powers been widely known it’d have rocketed higher.
So then why was I now sitting at a bar on the Sabaody Archipelago, alone and staring into the amber liquid of booze in a mug? It was simple. Mutiny. Those whom I had trusted most among my crew turned on a dime and after reaching the Archipelago they threw me overboard and turned around. To where I didn’t know and quite frankly after their betrayal I didn’t care.
“Damn them. Damn them all.” I muttered under my breath cursing as I downed the rest of my contents. “Another!” I called out to the barkeep who approached to fill my mug.
“You’re looking a little rough there, are you sure you need another?” The bartender asked as he took the mug from me.
“I don’t have anything else to do. I don’t even know what else to do with myself.” I responded grumpily. “Just fill it up.” I demanded.
“Right.” The bartender responded as he filled it with more of the alcoholic amber liquid and slid It in front of me.

Idea 9: Bleach
(So a new human soul reaper makes it into the soul society. His power isn’t great to begin with simply being enough to take out the average hollow. And with the resurgence of the hollow threat the Soul Society has offered to give him a substitute badge to take out those hollows deemed too small for the soul society to handle. Maybe he’s paired up with someone or someone like Orihime steps in to help him grow.)
Starter: Another boring day at university followed by a night of boring patrols. With all the big hollows being taken care of by “Full-fledged” Soul reapers it didn’t leave me with much opportunity to train against bigger enemies.
At least that’s what I thought originally. A few blocks from me there was a rift which opened up and the pure spiritual pressure that came from the hollow that stepped out of it was enough to make me feel as though gravity itself was pushing against me.
It was hard to breathe and even harder to stand as my hand clutched my blade in my left hand tightly. I shook my head as I heard the loud roar of the large breast and could even see its towering form from my position.
It was nothing close to a menos, but it was enough to tower over a three-story building for sure. “Damn.” I hissed to myself as I knew there were no soul reapers around at this stage. With a threat this big I was sure they’d come, but until then it was up to me to buy some time and make sure no humans or souls were consumed.
Pushing myself forward I reached the park that the Hollow had appeared in. Thankfully the park was deserted at this time of night.
When he saw me, the hollow let out a low growl. “You don’t smell like much, but you’ll do as a snack.” The hollow commented as it charged forward.
“Just evade, buy time.” I commented to myself as I began to leap around the battlefield looking a bit like and feeling like an idiot.
The hollow toyed with me a little while enjoying the chase before it seemed to get bored. Just when I was thinking I was fast enough to keep avoiding it the creature’s mouth opened and its forked tongue shot out at me with faster speed than I was anticipating. I raised my blade to defend myself but it was a feeble attempt and I knew it wouldn’t be enough.

Idea 20: Persona (Girls from 3, 4 and 5).
(So basically this is just gonna be a fairly interesting idea. My character along with the girls of persona 3, 4 and 5 get stranded in this strange dimension where they have to fight their way out to make it back to their own worlds.)
Starter: It all happened so fast. One minute I was in a team meeting with my group discussing what we should use our newfound powers for next. And the next second, I blinked and I was in some kind of strange room.
One by one more people were added into this room. Some of which were dressed in some elaborate costumes. And I frowned as I looked at each one of them, all of which I didn’t recognize at all and judging by their looks they didn’t recognize me. Although before we managed to introduce ourselves a booming voice broke the silence.
“Welcome all!” The clearly male voice commented. “To the room of my design.” He added on. “I’m sure you’re all confused. And no doubt you’ll want to return back to your homes. However, to do so you’ll need to enter my labyrinth. “Make it to the end and you’ll all return home.” The voice explained.
“Of course, this maze isn’t without its dangers. Enemies, much like you encounter on a regular basis will roam these halls. As well as beasts of my own design far stronger than those… Fear not though for every checkpoint you reach this room will become more furnished with amenities. For now, you simply have beds to rest on.” He said as there was an audible click and the dark room was suddenly lit up. Sure, enough there were rows of beds all lined up one for each person to sleep on.
“When you’re ready to test yourself, step through this door and enter the first level of the labyrinth.” He declared as a large door appeared and opened up in front of them.
For a while nobody said anything, probably all too stunned to even process the information.
“So, I’m guessing we’re all persona users given what he just said.” I spoke up. “I guess we should probably start with names and strengths, right?” I questioned the group. “I’m Chris Schwarzer.” I say. “My persona, Seraph focuses on ranged combat.” I explained.

Idea 21: Final Fantasy VII. (Others Can be done! :))
(So this one will be set in the world of Final Fantasy VII, however if you’re looking to do others, I’m more than happy to do so! I’m familiar with them all. Mainly 7 and 14 But this one will be focused on FF VII, since Jessie, Yuffie, Tifa and Aerith are best girls! If you wanted to mix this up with FF 14 and have them transported to Eorzea we can make something up!)
Starter: Midgar. Easy place to find work given you were capable enough. There were a lot of monsters prowling the highways between sectors and a lot of people willing to pay mercenaries to get the job done.
“Hiyah!” I called out as I cleaved my blade through the neck of a monster severing its head from the rest of its body and slaying it instantly. It was a tough fight but I overcame it. I panted a little as my muscles relaxed and I slid my blade back into its sheath. The job I was on was simple, kill the beast and return its head to a barkeep in sector 5. I scooped the beast’s head up into a burlap sack and hoisted it over my shoulder before I headed back to the bar.
By this point I was a rather well-known mercenary. Jobs exterminating monsters were easy to come by and easy enough to complete. Plus, the payout paid for my room and for most of my meals. As I entered the bar I headed up to the counter and placed the bloody burlap sack on the counter. “Got it done.” I say to the barkeep.
The older man, his hair and beard white with age frowned a little and looked at the bag. The blood splatter on the counter… which he had just cleaned was enough to let him know that I was serious and he placed the sack full of gil on the counter.
“Thanks.” I say as I picked up the purse. It was lighter than I expected, but even if it was short I wasn’t about to start an argument. In return to my manners, I got a short grunt back.
“Don’tcha forget about disposin of that thing, I ain’t want it.” He said waving his hand dismissively towards the bag.
“Right, I’ll get on that.” I say as I grabbed the sack.
“An there was a woman lookin for you.” He stated. “Said she’d be waitin for you in buildin next to the orphanage.” He stated.
“Right, thanks.” I said to the man and headed out, disposing quickly of the severed head in the sack before I headed up to the building in question. I frowned as I peered inside. My eyes looking around for any sign of someone out of place. It did seem a little crowded in the building after all. I was about to announce myself when I felt a hand tap my shoulder and turned to see who it was.

Those are by no means all of the starters and given the size limits of post limits I figured I’d narrow it down to some of the ones I like the most! Feel free to ask me about any of the others! Thanks so much for reading this and I hope to hear from some of you soon! :)

10.5 y/o neutered male Briard, BCS 5. History of oral mast cell cancer, removed November 2022. Had chemo & radiation Jan-April 2023 and I believe is currently considered immunocompromised as he has been taking 5mg pred daily since surgery, and Palladia 2x/wk since June 2023 (although due to what is described here he has no had either in approximately 5 weeks).
About 6.5 weeks ago he developed two areas of what looked like freckles/moles flush with the skin, which eventually flaked off. No pustules, no itchiness, no redness, no scaliness, no scabbiness/weeping, no open areas... just the freckle looking spots that seemed to just get extra dry and flake away. No other skin irritation. We saw the vet, who dx'd staph based on appearance. We didn't do a skin scraping or anything so no test results. He was prescribed a 14 day course of Simplicef.
We discussed medicated chlorhexidine baths and decided to take that route first to try and avoid oral antibiotics.
I started the medicated baths but 5 weeks ago, after 2 baths, he developed aspiration pneumonia out of nowhere and spent 2.5 days clinging to life in the ICU. He received Clavamox and Amikacin while in the hospital and for a stretch after - 7 days of Amikacin and I believe 10 days of Clavamox. He took 20mg of pred for a few days and was tapered off.
He has not restarted the mast cell cancer related 5mg pred or Palladia yet as we wanted to let his system try and recover a bit.
A little less than 2 weeks ago I noticed the spots coming back in a few areas. Same as before - flat, no open sores/pustules/scabs, no obvious irritation, no itchiness. The only difference is a few of the spots are/were a little more diffuse and looked like smudges of dirt on his skin than freckles.
I started him on the Simplicef, so he has four days left of that. He's has a total of three chlorhexidine 4% medicated baths in the last 12 days and has been dried extremely thoroughly each time.
I think in general the spots on his body are resolving, but his RF leg has something peculiar happening.
His RF and LH were shaved while he was in the hospital. The LH is regrowing hair normally, but the clipped area on his RF was badly bruised and as that has faded he has developed gradually worsening hyperpigmentation and has lost most of its hair. There is also one small spot that looks like the other areas of staph that has either faded slightly or maybe appears lighter because the surrounding skin is darker?
The hyperpigmentated area is very smooth and there are no signs of irritation in that he not itching and nothing is thickened/red/scaly/open (which has remain consistent throughout this entire process). The skin is just darkened and bald. No other areas of his body are affected, just the area on the LF leg in the area that was clipped.
Photos - https://imgur.com/a/Mfr9QXa
I called our vet two days ago and left a message with the front desk, as well as emailed pictures. I followed up yesterday but still have not heard back.
In my googling it looks like hyperpigmentation can be a sign of healing, but I'm not finding anything about alopecia in hyperpigmented areas. Google isn't a vet and I'm concerned this is a large area of staph not responding to treatment, or maybe something else entirely.
Ideas? Is this potentially a normal progression of healing and I just need to wait for the layers of skin cells to finish turning over? Maybe weird post-clip alopecia?
Or should I potentially be concerned/trying to get him back into the vet soon for a skin scraping or biopsy, or maybe different meds or testing for Cushings/hyperadrenocorticism/thyroid problems?

Recently went through an interview for a serving job at a restaurant and the interviewers expained that the job offer is about a busser and drink runner. They went on to say that they exclusively put males as food runners and females as drink runners. Isn't that sexist? Why would they discriminate? I assumed it has to do with the heaviness of a large tray with lots of plates, but then again a tray full of drinks can also be heavy af, yet they want women for that in specific. Has anyone come across this?

I (f,20) am a plus size girlie 5’6 215 lbs and I have large lips down there (outer ones). I was wearing bike shorts and no underwear when I was sleeping over at a friends and they asked why I had a bulge :/ what a day for insecurity. My boyfriend (m,22) loves it but I can help feeling like because the lips are big, it’s unhygienic. I also have had some chafing which causes these weird stretch mark scars on them. I know all vaginas are different but I’ve just been feeling more insecure than usual about mine :(

Reposting as I did not get a response last time.
Hello everyone! I realized I want to go back to medicine after working for a year and I wanted to get insight into what I need to improve on. I’m planning on attending a local T40 school for 18 months (starting in spring) and then have a glide year after to ensure my application is the best it can be. I thank all of you who read and help me in this. Into the stats!
GPA: GPA, 3.5, Science GPA 3.27 (Potential can be raised to 3.67 after Post Baccalaureate) Degree: B.S. Psychology
Research: ~300 Hours (helped design the study) Shadowing: ~2 Hours Clinical Volunteer: 40 Hours (would I also include the 125 hours of EMT training?) Volunteer: ~700-900 Hours (This is including leadership positions)
Extracurricular: VP of Pre Med Organization,
Senator and President of an LGBTQ+ Org on Campus - In that role I also co-chaired a large dinner with 20k budget
Senator in Undergraduate Government - In that role I helped advocate for menstrual products in male restrooms - Help created a DEI committee for students
Director within Student Government - Helped oversee a 100k budget - Helped create initiatives and led the process to developing and creating them
VP of Recruitment in a Top Fraternity - managed and ran recruitment week and all initiatives involved in it - managed all efforts in recruitment - helped raised money for cancer and fraternity specific disease (about 1.5k in total)
International Student for a Semester - went to the UK and studied for 5 months
Member of University Ultimate Frisbee Club and local team ultimate frisbee club
That’s all I can remember for now, please let me know where to improve so I can be the best applicant.

Recently went through an interview for a serving job at a restaurant and the interviewers expained that the job offer is about a busser and drink runner. They went on to say that they exclusively put males as food runners and females as drink runners. And claimed that this is what happens in almost every place. Isn't that sexist? Why would they discriminate? I assumed it has to do with the heaviness of a large tray with lots of plates, but then again a tray full of drinks can also be heavy af. Has anyone come across this?

Where: Northern Sweden, Grövelsjön to Treriksröset
When: 13/02/2024 - 23/4/2034 (ten weeks)
Distance: 1325km
Conditions: General winter conditions, +7ºC to -30ºC
Lighterpack: https://lighterpack.com/tzlwle
Overview:
Vita Bandet (the White Ribbon) is a non competitive challenge to take you from the southern most point of the Swedish mountains to the northern most (or vice versa) by your own power. In my case on ski. More details at https://www.vitagronabandet.se/en-GB/about/about-25427890
Vita Bandet becomes more and more popular, this year setting a new record with 36 people, who signed up to do it, 28, who actually started, out of which 24 actually made it.
I’m not really experience in winter tours, I’ve done a couple overnighters and a four day tour the year before. My initial plans were to do a 10 day tour this year and then maybe the following year I could try Vita Bandet. But then I got laid off and I decided to just give it a shot. Worst case I’d take a bus back home after 10 days or so.
It took me 71 days in total, 14 days of rest, 25 nights spent in tent, 45 in huts, cabins, shelters, hostels or hotels.
Track: https://www.utsidan.se/tracklogs/view.htm?ID=1766
Another trip report on Vita Bandet, that I found very helpful personally: https://www.reddit.com/Ultralight/comments/ns7znm/1434km_by_ski_through_sweden/
Photos: https://imgur.com/a/ockHb6A
Trip Report:
Stretch 1: Grövelsjön - Storlien
Arrived by bus in the afternoon, decided to head out that very same day, which was probably a bad idea since it got quite late until I left for real and there wasn’t just a lot of daylight left. Only made it up the hill and camped at the first remotely feasible spot. Woke up to a deflated sleeping pad. I had tested all gear just two weeks before the trip at a very cold night and everything worked perfectly fine. That’s why I believed in some problem with the valve or whatever, something that I’d be able to fix easily at least. Aimed at staying at some of the cabins along the way. Those cabins aren’t meant for overnight stays, only in case of emergency, but I concluded a broken sleeping pad would qualify as such. Unfortunately I was not able to fix the situation, instead it got worse and I had to inflate my pad several times that night. Met some very kind local on a snow mobile and asked about sport shops or outfitters nearby that might have a replacement. He gave them a call to reconfirm but suggested I’d rather stick to my route and spend a night at a hut, where I’d have a proper bed anyway and then try at the next village. I contacted some trails angels, that would provide me with a place to stay there and they also made sure, there‘d be a replacement pad to buy for me.
Unfortunately I got met with a heavy snow storm that delayed me by two days. First I took a rest day during the storm and then, they day after, the snow conditions where so hard, it took me forever to just reach the next cabin. 8 hours for just 10km. Because of the cold temperatures, that fresh snow was just pure powder and the wind had it collect in pools behind each hill. It was more like quicksand. There were no tracks to follow, or at least, those old ones were mostly invisible and for large parts you could only guess where they were to get to harder, more bearing grounds. So I often fell into those pools of lose snow, where it took forever to get out of again. Not to mention the energy it cost me. My super narrow skis didn’t really help with that situation. Just before it got dark, I made it to that other cabin. There was some firewood provided, that was leaning against a tree outside. It still had to be cut. Turns out, it wasn’t dry and it took me forever to get it to burn. This was kinda crucial since the night would go down to -15ºC and all I had was a torso length CCF pad to protect me from below. Thankfully there was another piece of CCF pad lying around at that cabin.
Had a fabulous time at those trail angel’s house in Tänndalen. From there continued over Fältjägarstugan to Helags. This is a so called fjällstation, where you have amenities like electricity and running water. Except they were not open yet. So I had to stay at their emergency room. Another storm swept through and I decided to wait it out, since going in -10ºC and 25m/s is not what I came here for. After the third night, I continued further to Sylarna fjällstation. Conditions weren’t great but better and I clearly can’t wait and stay at Helags forever. From there I chose the route over Blåhammeren. This was kind of a mistake since the way down from Blåhammaren to Storlien is extremely steep and was just pure ice. I fell several times and managed to jar my tailbone. I started to understand that if I’d continue like this, I’d probably get injured severely at some point. Stayed at a friend’s house where I could do my resupply for the next stretch.
Stretch 2: Storlien - Gäddede
This is probably the most unpopular stretch of Vita or Gröna Bandet (if you do it during summer, it’s called Gröne Bandet, the green ribbon). That’s mostly because there’s not so much infrastructure in between. If anything, it’s mostly hotels or expensive cabins to rent. If on foot, you’ll probably end up walking a lot of roads. That’s why it’s way more attractive in winter, where you can follow snow mobile tracks and cross lakes. Spent most nights in my tent, took a day of rest at the hotel in Jänsmässholmen and enjoyed their sauna. There’s a trail angel in Olden, a settlement just a little before, that I skipped. Not a good idea because those kilometers to Jänsmässholmen were a lot more demanding, than I thought. There’s another trail angel in Valsjöbyn, half way between Jänsmässholmen and Gäddede, who allows you to stay at their place, a former hostel. Took advantage of that and did a minor resupply at their tiny supermarket. Between there and Gäddede it’s mostly unmarked terrain, more or less the only stretch where you really have to navigate on your own unless you’re aiming for exactly that. Had a blast choosing a rather unusual route a bit further south than what most people do. Unfortunately the following day, between somewhat south-west of Lobbersjö to Gäddede wouldn’t be that great. I follow someone else’s tracks just to find myself in a very steep and dense forest. Had to take off my skis, but snow was about hip deep at times. Took me an hour just to make a few hundred meters. At that occasion I crashed my sled into trees several times and that must be when I eventually broke it. It developed a crack at the lower front that was shaped in a way so it would scoop up snow and accumulate it inside. First that made it very hard to pull, second, later that day when crossing a large lake, the raw ice was rubbing against the bulges, that were building up from the accumulated snow and rubbed two more holes into the bottom of my “pulka”. Arrived at the hotel very late. It was a Friday night and I had to realize, that I broke my pulka. Contacted the vendor of my sled but of course they couldn’t do anything until Monday morning. They would send a replacement. But as remote as those villages are, it wouldn’t be there before Thursday. So that was almost a whole week of just waiting.
On the other hand, I had made it to Gäddede and that’s a bit like what Kennedy Meadows is to to the PCT. If you’ve made it here, you’ll probably make it all the way, they say.
Stretch 3: Gäddede - Hemavan
The first couple of days after this long break felt very tiresome, I had lost my rhythm and maybe also my strength. Due to warm weather the conditions down in the valleys were just terrible, mix of slush and water or, once frozen again, just ice or icy crust. Generally speaking, following snow mobile tracks through forest is terrible but unavoidable. So I chose I route through the mountains rather than over ice. Harder but more enjoyable. Just before Klimpfjäll I would meet Lapplandsleden, an established, well marked trail for summer as well as winter use, that would lead me all the way to Hemavan. There are some amazing unmanned huts on the way, that I took advantage of. Did a quick resupply in Klimpfjäll. Unfortunately I didn’t know there would have been a nice beer and burger place too. Bummer! A few kilometers after Gränssjö I noticed that weather was forecasted to turn really sour. Lots of fresh snow and storms. My buddy Johan, who had just passed through some days before, advised to not continue, so I turned around and took an alternative route over the large lakes. One thing that’s worth mentioning is, that there are many (marked) snow mobile tracks out there, that are not referenced on any map. That way I missed that there would have been a nice shortcut over to Hemavan and instead I did a rather long detour over yet another large lake. Rented a cabin to dry up after that snow storm, just to realize that the route I had chosen, wasn’t really feasible either and I had to do yet another detour to the detour, that would led me back into and over the mountains. But despite this taking some efforts, it was just righteous beautiful again and I ended up getting some really good days of skiing before reaching Hemavan eventually.
Stretch 4: Hemavan - Abisko
Took two days of rest here to do laundry and resupply and - of course - go to the sauna. Met with some German girl who was also doing Vita Bandet and left for famous Kungsleden while the next storm was brewing already. The way up from Hemavan back into the mountains is quite a thing, so all sweaty I found myself back above tree line, when the storm just got stronger and stronger. And after I got almost swept off my feet, freezing and unable to see where I am, I decided to - once again - turn around. There was no place to stay up in the mountains, there’s just ski slopes up there. No cabins, no way to pitch a tent in the steep terrain. So the only solution was to go down to the village again, all the way. That was a tremendous setback. I met with Melanie again and stayed at her place just to try again next morning. This time I made it to the next hut. But the storm was brewing again. There were serious storms forecasted the next day, with wind speeds above 30m/s. I decided to continue to another hut at lower altitude, that wouldn’t be that affected by the storm. The warm weather together with the strong winds turned my hard shell into an icy crust. Thankfully I was wearing my warm fleece underneath this time, so it was more like fun than something seriously bad. Took half a day off the next day, since there was a hut with a great sauna. Made it to Ammarnäs just as planned, ate burgers and had beer there, did a smaller resupply at their well sorted supermarket and continued. Just to end up in the next snowstorm after making my way all the way up out of the valley. That night in my tent was quite the low point of my whole journey. I was so sure that next morning I’d have to turn back to Ammarnäs again and eventually just get a bus back home. But then next morning weather was unexpectedly good, conditions quite enjoyable and I had a great day out skiing in the mountains. Stayed at another shelter and then continued to Adolfström. I was able to secure a small cabin there, that they usually don’t rent out during winter. But they had made some special arrangements with an older lady from Denmark, who then had to cancel due to other circumstances. Forecast predicted very cold weather with nights below -25ºC (ended up as -30º even), so I was happy to be indoors and so I took a day of rest waiting for warmer weather. Met up with Melanie and Pontus, another guy on Vita Bandet and we continued skiing together for a couple of days. Weather was fantastic and we had the best time.
Took a nearo at Kvikkjokk where we slept at the cabin just at the other side of the river and then headed for the all-you-can-eat breakfast next morning. Now rain was in the forecast, we decided to leave nonetheless and make it to the next hut and dry up there again. We were wet to the bones and the comfort of a wood fired stove was more than appreciated. Stayed at the next hut too because it’s known for its amazing sauna and beautiful views of Rappaälven and its delta, that’s coming out of Sarek. We continued towards Saltoluokta, another fjällstation, where we again chose to camp just before and then head for the all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet. Learned later, that the snowstorm that had started the evening before wreaked havoc just a couple of valleys further down the trail and some people had to be rescued and evacuated. We had no idea there was a storm coming even. Did a small resupply there and then we set out to take us along the shores of this regulated lake, that is the result of a dam. So lots of open waters everywhere and sure not everyone’s cup of tea. But there’s only walking the road 15km as the alternative. You’re not allowed to take the bus as most other people do, who are following Kungsleden. From there you have to continue following a set of lakes, that are partially regulated too. Due to the warm weather of the past days this turned out to be a full blown shitshow. Deep slush and puddles on top of the ice, snow so soft, you immediately sink in until your knees or beyond. Thankfully it got colder again and after things had frozen over again, it even started to snow and we were met with basically the best conditions I’d ever seen on this trip. Were it not for the strong sun, Pontus got snow blind and I had severe struggles too. It’s probably because so late into the season, the sun is quite high up already and then the trail leads you through those U shaped valleys, that are completely snow covered and act like a curved mirror. Stronger, darker sun glasses would have been a blessing. Also stronger sunscreen.
Stretch 5: Abisko - Treriksröset
A last day of rest at Abisko, laundry, resupply, eat, eat, eat and sauna and then onto the last section that starts with a 40km stretch over Torneträsk. Strong headwinds didn’t exactly make it more enjoyable but weather was great otherwise. After you climb back up above tree line you end up on some plateau, that just seems endless. Soft, snow covered hills all around and perfect skiing conditions let you glide through the landscape. Every few hours people on snow mobiles, wearing capes and ponchos, cutting through like in a scene from Star Wars. Just perfect, magic moments. After reaching Treriksröset, the cairn that marks the meeting point between Norway, Finland and Sweden, I stayed at a last cabin from where I crossed into Finland and over to Kilpisjärvi the next morning, not knowing there’s another all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet waiting just next to the bus stop.
Conclusion
It was a lot hard than I had thought it would be. And had I known before, how hard it would be, I would have never done it. Everything is just at least twice as hard in winter. I’ve not been swearing and cussing that much before in my whole life. Alone the amount of gear, with all its straps, cords, laces and hooks, the possibilities that something gets tangled, snagged, jammed, or stuck is just mind blowing. And yet, I’m so glad I did it.
Gear Notes:
Ski
Those skis I used were too narrow, wider skis would have made it easier where there was a lot of fresh snow and would have allowed me to go off-trail more.
Pulk/sled: Jemtlander PullPac 8M/L
I plan to write a separate, detailed review on this, since it’s a rather new and unconventional piece of gear. In short, it worked but needed replacement. Should have gone with the stronger version right away. Having just a rope worked and allows to put the backpack on your back when needed. I didn’t make use of that scenario that often though and mostly just for traveling. Only in rare occasions, when traversing steeper slopes, I put my backpack on my back. In general I ended up with a too heavy backpack as I could still ski comfortably, especially in more technical terrain, especially since I also had that daypack, that would then go in front. It was great to have such a light setup when going uphill or over flat grounds but not so much downhill. The steeper, the worse the experience was.
Tent: Hilleberg Soulo
It’s a small tent, but I’m used to small tents, it fits my style. Usually I just get into my sleeping bag and then do all the rest while lying down, ie cooking and such. The biggest drawback surely is that doesn’t really allow to cook while having the doors close, the vestibule is just too small for that. At least when it comes to priming the stove. Which can be a problem in strong winds. I managed anyway, but that’s more like survivor bias than anything else. Most people opt for tunnel tents with large vestibules where they can sit and cook in almost any condition and just for the peace of mind, that’s something that I can’t deny the appeal of. There are people, who go even lighter. You could leave away the inner tent for instance. But then you’d have to make sure to seal it really well to account for snow drift in a storm. Other people use pyramid style tents, but in general that’s people, who go very fast and stay indoors for most of their trip, ie. they only plan for a handful of nights in a tent. Overall I think taking the Soulo, while not perfect, was still a good compromise.
Sleep system
Don’t get me started on sleeping pads, even the replacement (a self-inflating, super robust, 1kg) started leaking at some point. If I had a full-blown pulk I’d definitely bring a full length CCF pad, some inflatable for comfort and a reindeer skin just because I can.
My sleeping bag clearly isn’t warm enough, even though I had the extra synthetic blanket. The last couple of nights were something like -20ºC and I got a bit cold in the morning hours.
Clothes
In general the clothes I brought worked really well. Barely used that fleece jacket, I carried with me, but when I needed it, I was glad, I had it. An even warmer down jacket and warmer gloves would also go on my list of “next time”.
Stove/kitchen: Primus Omnilite TI, Primus 1l with heat exchanger
Worked like a charm, but should have bought and brought the repair kit to the stove and the maintenance instructions. Half way between Abisko and Treriksröset, in the middle of nowhere, the fuel pump stopped working and I couldn’t repair it on my own. Thankfully Pontus wasn’t too far behind at that point and I managed to reach him over inReach.
There are people who use canister stoves, it didn’t work for my buddy Johan and in general, I don’t get the appeal of it. Alone the logistics behind it regarding resupply sounds like a nightmare.

DAY: MAY 1 2024
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• 5-1-2024THREE WAYS TO PROTECT YOUR HEART AND BRAIN Every 40 seconds someone in the U.S. has a stroke and 1 in 4 stroke survivors will have another one. During May, American Stroke Month, the American Stroke Association , is raising awareness nationwide that stroke is largely preventable, treatable and beatable.
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• 5-1-2024GOOD CARBS FOR OPTIMAL HEALTH Do you push away the breadbasket or opt out of any meal that includes macaroni? If so, chances are you are one of the millions of people watching your carbs, or carbohydrates. not all carbs are bad, and there are plenty of foods with good carbs.
• 5-1-2024HOW ANGER COULD RAISE YOUR HEART RISKS Feeling angry constricts blood vessels in unhealthy ways and could raise a person’s long-term odds for heart disease, new research warns. “If you’re a person who gets angry all the time, you’re having chronic injuries to your blood vessels,”
• 5-1-2024HOW TO STAY SUN-SAFE THIS SUMMER Clear skies, warm days and free time set the stage for more people being active during the approaching summer months. “Sunburn can be painful and ruin your day, but more importantly you’re trying to prevent skin cancer,”
• 5-1-2024US TO RECLASSIFY CANNABIS AS LOW-RISK DRUG, IN MAJOR SHIFT US President Joe Biden’s administration is set to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, an official said Tuesday—a historic shift that would bring federal policy more in line with public opinion. The US attorney general sent a proposal to the White House on Tuesday to “reclassify marijuana,”
• 5-1-2024HOW BRIEF ANGER MAY IMPAIR BLOOD VESSEL FUNCTION A brief episode of anger triggered by remembering past experiences may negatively impact the blood vessels’ ability to relax, which is essential for proper blood flow, according to new research published in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
• 5-1-2024RESEARCHERS EXAMINE IMPLEMENTATION OF PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT PROGRAM FOR ADOLESCENTS WITH CANCER Social isolation is a difficult experience for many people and was particularly distressing during the COVID-19 pandemic. For adolescents who are immunocompromised, physical distancing can be important in managing their risk of serious infection, but it can be an especially negative experience during some of their most formative years.
• 5-1-2024REASONS TO BE A LIVING KIDNEY DONOR Nearly 100,000 people in the U.S. are on the waiting list for kidney transplant, according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network. Finding a donor kidney that is compatible and matches the right blood and tissue types can be the biggest challenge, especially when the donor pool isn’t as large as the number of people who need a transplant.
• 5-1-2024POPULAR TEENAGERS SLEEP LESS THAN THEIR PEERS, STUDY FINDS Due to a later melatonin onset and increased alertness in the evening, teenagers often find it hard to fall asleep at a time that would allow them to clock up the recommended eight to ten hours of sleep each night.
• 5-1-2024STUDY FINDS SOCIAL-MEDIA BREAK HAS SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON YOUNG WOMEN’S BODY IMAGE There’s a large and growing body of evidence pointing to potentially negative impacts of social media on mental health, from its addictive nature to disruptions in sleep patterns to effects on body image.
• 5-1-2024TIME-RESTRICTED EATING AND HIGH-INTENSITY EXERCISE WORK TOGETHER TO IMPROVE HEALTH Combining time-restricted eating with high-intensity functional training may improve body composition and cardiometabolic parameters more than either alone
• 5-1-2024CAN CONNECTIONS AND WORDLE GAMES FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES IMPROVE COGNITIVE FUNCTION AS YOU AGE? Connections and Wordle are two of the New York Times’ most popular games. But does playing help your brain health? Credit: Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University Every day, millions of people across the globe fill their morning commute or lunch break with New York Times games such as Wordle or Connections.
• 5-1-2024NEW SURVEY FINDS 75% OF AMERICANS FEEL MENTAL HEALTH TAKES BACK SEAT TO PHYSICAL HEALTH WITHIN US HEALTH CARE SYSTEM Three-quarters of Americans feel that mental health conditions are identified and treated with much less care than physical health issues within the U.S. health care system, even as more than 80% perceive a dramatic rise in prevalence of mental health issues in the last five years
• 5-1-2024SURVEY FINDS YOUNG ADULTS MORE LIKELY TO BELIEVE MYTHS ABOUT SUN PROTECTION AND SKIN CANCER PREVENTION A new national survey by the Orlando Health Cancer Institute finds nearly a third (32%) of Americans agree that a tan makes people look better and healthier, a dangerous beauty standard that experts say can lead to risky behavior when it comes to sun exposure.
• 5-1-2024AI EXPERTS EXPLORE ETHICAL USE OF VIDEO TECHNOLOGY TO SUPPORT PATIENTS AT RISK OF FALLS Video-enabled glasses have the potential to support patients at risk of falls by allowing medical staff to monitor how they move around their homes and their community.
• 5-1-2024FIVE REASONS YOUR BLOOD PRESSURE MEDICATION ISN’T WORKING Keeping your blood pressure in check is a good way to lower your risk of heart disease, stroke, and kidney disease. So, you follow orders, take your prescribed medication, and proudly accept your doctor’s praise when the blood pressure cuff demonstrates continued success.
• 5-1-2024A NOVEL DEEP PROTEOMIC APPROACH UNVEILS MOLECULAR SIGNATURES AFFECTED BY AGING AND RESISTANCE TRAINING The skeletal muscle proteome alterations to aging and resistance training have been reported in prior studies. However, conventional proteomics in skeletal muscle typically yields wide protein abundance ranges that mask the detection of lowly expressed proteins.
• 5-1-2024ORGANIC WALNUTS TIED TO SERIOUS E. COLI ILLNESSES Organic walnuts from a California grower that were distributed to health food and co-op stores in 19 states have been linked to serious cases of E. coli illness So far, 12 people have been sickened; seven were so ill they required hospitalization
  
• 5-1-2024RESEARCHERS IDENTIFY CAUSAL GENETIC VARIANT LINKED TO COMMON CHILDHOOD OBESITY
  
• 5-1-2024US LONG-TERM CARE COSTS ARE SKY-HIGH, BUT WASHINGTON STATE’S NEW WAY TO HELP PAY FOR THEM COULD BE NIXED
  
• 5-1-2024SCIENTISTS SAY SLEEP RESETS BRAIN CONNECTIONS—BUT ONLY FOR FIRST FEW HOURS
  
• 5-1-2024FOR PARENTS OF KIDS WITH FOOD ALLERGIES, SOCIAL MEDIA CAN BRING SUPPORT—AND STRESS
  
• 5-1-2024WALKING FOR TRANSPORT AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK MAY HELP SOME OLDER PEOPLE LIVE LONGER
  
• 5-1-2024UNDERSTANDING YOUTH NICOTINE USE TO PREVENT INITIATION AND ESCALATION
  
• 5-1-2024LONG-TERM SMELL, BUT NOT TASTE, DEFICITS SEEN AFTER COVID-19
  
• 5-1-2024RESEARCHERS IDENTIFY BIOMARKERS IN BLOOD TO PREDICT LIVER CANCER
  
• 5-1-2024WOMEN WITHOUT CHILDREN ARE SIGNIFICANTLY MORE PHYSICALLY ACTIVE THAN MOTHERS, STUDY FINDS
  
• 5-1-2024VR ENVIRONMENT FOR TEENS MAY OFFER AN ACCESSIBLE, AFFORDABLE WAY TO REDUCE STRESS
  
• 5-1-2024EMERGENCY DEPARTMENTS MAY FREQUENTLY MISS SIGNS OF EPILEPSY IN CHILDREN
  
• 5-1-2024GLOBAL STUDY REVEALS STARK DIFFERENCES BETWEEN FEMALES AND MALES IN DISEASE BURDEN CAUSES
  
• 5-1-2024‘STOP SIGN’ DISCLOSURES ON ULTRA-PROCESSED FOOD FOUND TO HAVE A POSITIVE EFFECT
  
• 5-1-2024NEW STUDY SUPPORTS PSILOCYBIN’S POTENTIAL AS AN ANTIDEPRESSANT
  
• 5-1-2024STUDY INDICATES THAT CANCER PATIENTS GAIN IMPORTANT BENEFITS FROM GENOME-MATCHED TREATMENTS
  
• 5-1-2024PATIENTS WITH RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS HAVE UNIQUE AND COMPLEX AUTOANTIBODY PATTERNS, STUDY REVEALS
  
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• 5-1-2024RESEARCHER DISCUSSES MECHANISM BEHIND A BIRTH DEFECT AFFECTING BRAIN SIZE
  
• 5-1-2024HEPATITIS B IS GLOBALLY UNDERASSESSED AND UNDERTREATED, ESPECIALLY AMONG WOMEN AND ASIAN MINORITIES IN THE WEST
  
• 5-1-2024CHINESE SCIENTIST WHO PUBLISHED COVID-19 VIRUS SEQUENCE ALLOWED BACK IN HIS LAB AFTER SIT-IN PROTEST
  
• 5-1-2024PREJUDICIAL VIEWS OF MENTAL HEALTH LABELS FORMED FOLLOWING TRIAL OF JOHNNY DEPP AND AMBER HEARD
  
• 5-1-2024LIFE EXPECTANCY IN TWO DISADVANTAGED AREAS IN ENGLAND HIGHER THAN EXPECTED
  
• 5-1-2024PRECLINICAL STUDY FINDS NOVEL STEM CELL THERAPY BOOSTS NEURAL REPAIR AFTER CARDIAC ARREST
  
• 5-1-2024STUDY FINDS CHATGPT FAILS AT HEART RISK ASSESSMENT
  
• 5-1-2024REPORT SHOWS AMERICANS OF PACIFIC ISLAND ETHNICITY HAVE UP TO TRIPLE THE RATE OF CANCER DEATHS
  
• 5-1-2024BRAIN IMAGING STUDY REVEALS CONNECTIONS CRITICAL TO HUMAN CONSCIOUSNESS
  
• 5-1-2024EXPERIMENTAL VACCINE TARGETS PORTIONS OF THE FLU VIRUS THAT DON’T CHANGE
  
• 5-1-2024SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH TIED TO ATHEROSCLEROTIC CVD RISK
  
• 5-1-2024ORGAN TRANSPLANT DRUG MAY SLOW ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE PROGRESSION
  
• 5-1-2024STUDY SHOWS THE DRAMATIC IMPACT OF EXTREME POVERTY ON MORTALITY IN A RACIALLY DIVERSE LOW-INCOME POPULATION
  
• 5-1-2024STUDY FINDS PRIVATE EQUITY EXPANDING TO MENTAL HEALTH FACILITIES
  
• 5-1-2024CONSCIOUS MEMORIES OF CHILDHOOD MALTREATMENT STRONGLY ASSOCIATED WITH PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
  
• 5-1-2024RESEARCHERS EXAMINE EXPERIENCES OF 2SLGBTQIA+ PARENTS AND CAREGIVERS WHO USE SUPPORT SERVICES FOR YOUNG CHILDREN
  
• 5-1-2024OSTEOPOROSIS SCREENING RATES LOW FOR ASIAN AMERICAN MEDICARE BENEFICIARIES
  
• 5-1-2024UNRAVELING THE ROLES OF NON-CODING DNA EXPLAINS CHILDHOOD CANCER’S RESISTANCE TO CHEMOTHERAPY
  
• 5-1-2024NEW TECHNIQUE IMPROVES T CELL-BASED IMMUNOTHERAPIES FOR SOLID TUMORS
  
• 5-1-2024FRANCE SENDS DOCTORS TO TACKLE MAYOTTE CHOLERA OUTBREAK
  
• 5-1-2024MACHINE LEARNING TOOL IDENTIFIES RARE, UNDIAGNOSED IMMUNE DISORDERS THROUGH PATIENTS’ ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORDS
  
• 5-1-2024STUDY FINDS NETWORK OF INFLAMMATORY MOLECULES MAY ACT AS BIOMARKER FOR RISK OF FUTURE CEREBROVASCULAR DISEASE
  
• 5-1-2024EXPOSED TO AGENT ORANGE AT US BASES, VETERANS FACE CANCER WITHOUT VA COMPENSATION
  
• 5-1-2024DEEP-LEARNING DECODING FOR A NONINVASIVE BRAIN-COMPUTER INTERFACE
  
• 5-1-2024CARDIOLOGISTS TRAIN LARGE AI MODEL TO ASSESS HEART STRUCTURE, FUNCTION
  
• 5-1-2024CLOSING THE US/MEXICO BORDER DURING COVID-19 INCREASED HIV TRANSMISSION, STUDY FINDS
  
• 5-1-2024IDENTIFYING RISKS OF HUMAN FLEA INFESTATIONS IN PLAGUE-ENDEMIC AREAS OF MADAGASCAR
  
• 5-1-2024RESEARCHERS FIND DIFFERENCE IN PANCREATIC CANCER CELLS, OFFERING NEW HOPE FOR IMMUNOTHERAPY EFFECTIVENESS
  
• 5-1-2024STUDY FINDS LITTLE GENDER DIFFERENCE IN THE PERCEPTION OF AMBIENT ROOM TEMPERATURE
  
• 5-1-2024STUDY SHEDS LIGHT ON THE DEBATE AROUND TWO TYPES OF SHOULDER REPLACEMENT SURGERY FOR OSTEOARTHRITIS
  
• 5-1-2024STUDY SHOWS DRUG COMBO ERADICATES CANCER CELLS IN LAB-BASED TESTS
  
• 5-1-2024EPA CLAMPS DOWN ON DEADLY TOXIN FOUND IN PAINT STRIPPERS
  
• 5-1-2024NEW MRNA CANCER VACCINE TRIGGERS FIERCE IMMUNE RESPONSE TO FIGHT MALIGNANT BRAIN TUMOR
  
• 5-1-2024STUDY IN RATS HELPS SCIENTISTS WORK OUT THE EFFECTS OF EXERCISE AT THE CELLULAR LEVEL
  
• 5-1-2024FATHER’S GUT MICROBES AFFECT THE NEXT GENERATION IN MOUSE STUDY
  
• 5-1-2024RESEARCH ON HOW DIETARY CHOLINE TRAVELS THROUGH THE BLOOD-BRAIN BARRIER REVEALS PATHWAY FOR TREATING BRAIN DISORDERS
  
• 5-1-2024LONG-TERM FOLLOW-UP REPORTS KEY FINDINGS AND CLINICAL MESSAGES FROM LARGEST STUDY OF WOMEN’S HEALTH IN THE US
  
• 5-1-2024SCIENTISTS IDENTIFY NEW BRAIN CIRCUIT IN MICE THAT CONTROLS BODY’S INFLAMMATORY REACTIONS
  
• 5-1-2024FIRST EFFECTIVE TREATMENT FOUND FOR SPITTING COBRA SNAKEBITE
  
• 5-1-2024POSITIVE RESPONSE TO BOTOX INJECTION PREDICTS BETTER RESULTS OF MIGRAINE SURGERY
  
• 5-1-2024HOW FENTANYL AND COVID-19 PANDEMIC RESHAPED THE RACIAL PROFILE OF OVERDOSE DEATHS IN US
  
• 5-1-2024RESEARCHER EXPLAINS THE HUMAN TOLL OF LANGUAGE THAT MAKES ADDICTION FEEL WORSE
  
• 5-1-2024NEW GLOBAL CARE STANDARDS CAN HELP SURVIVORS
  
• 5-1-2024FEMALE ATHLETES LIKELIER TO GET INJURED AT CERTAIN POINTS IN THEIR MENSTRUAL CYCLE, FINDS STUDY
  
• 5-1-2024MEANINGFUL DEPICTIONS OF DEATH IN FILM HELP BEREAVED PEOPLE TO COPE, RESEARCH SHOWS
  
• 5-1-2024BRD7 RESEARCH POINTS TO ALTERNATIVE INSULIN SIGNALING PATHWAY
  
• 5-1-2024PASTEURIZED DONOR MILK MAY LOSE ESSENTIAL HORMONES
  
• 5-1-2024MAPPING A WAY TO IDENTIFY NEIGHBORHOODS WITH A HIGH RISK OF SEVERE CHILD ASTHMA
  
• 5-1-2024PREMATURE MENOPAUSE LINKED TO INCREASED MUSCULOSKELETAL PAIN AND LIKELIHOOD OF SARCOPENIA
  
• 5-1-2024WEIGHT-BEARING ACTIVITY UPS INCIDENT KNEE OSTEOARTHRITIS IN PEOPLE WITH LOW LOWER-LIMB MUSCLE MASS: STUDY
  
• 5-1-2024A NEW LOOK AT CANCER TREATMENTS DURING PREGNANCY
  
• 5-1-2024MOBILITY MAY HAVE DOSE-RESPONSE RELATIONSHIP WITH ICU PATIENT OUTCOMES
  
• 5-1-2024ASTRAZENECA’S COVID-19 VACCINE AND BLOOD CLOTS—WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
  
• 5-1-2024KEEPING THE NOISE DOWN FOR ICU PATIENTS
  
• 5-1-2024WITH HUGE PATIENT DATASET, AI ACCURATELY PREDICTS TREATMENT OUTCOMES
  
• 5-1-2024PSYCHIATRIST DISCUSSES UNRULY SPORTS PARENTS’ EFFECT ON CHILDREN’S MENTAL HEALTH
  

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---Intelligence---
​
---Leon’s perspective---
I look into the face of a late 30s Daniel Craig, staring back at me from the mirror, and adjust my bowtie before turning to the young, redheaded Scarlett Johansson in a formfitting jumpsuit next to me and giving her a smirk.
“Yes, yes… very dashing(!)” mocks Ziva with an eyeroll and an American accent.
“You say; with the lips of one of the most attractive Terrans ever born…” I answer, dryly, my British accent right now making me sound a lot wittier than normal.
She tilts her head to look up at me (needing to angle it way more than she ever does in reality to compensate for the 7 inches I’ve got on her in here, instead of the only 3 I’ve got outside of VR) and says “Something you don’t seem to understand, Leon, is that attractive people immediately become a lot less attractive when they preen!”
“Forgive me for enjoying a rare moment of actual glamor when the real life Craft has so few…(!)”
“Yeah… not usually like the movies, is it…!”
We walk down the stylish, mid 20^th Century hallway and come out into a semicrowded bar.
With just one exception, none of the ‘people’ here are real.
This is a secure chatroom, so the majority of the patrons dressed in period clothing with their faces all weird superstimuli of both Sapiens and whatever ethnicity they respectively represent (not yet having had the benefit of 6 centuries of the ability to travel, live, work, and marry wherever and whoever they want (especially resurrectees)), are NPCs.
I catch sight of the man we’re here to meet and me and Ziva cross the bar to make our way over to him.
I guess… I don’t actually know he’s a man…
Never met our handler in real life so he could be a woman or an enby…
Right now, he’s wearing the face of a man so I’m just gonna keep thinking and saying ‘he/him’.
I sit at the table, across from the (for his era) very tall elder statesman.
Brown eyes fixed on us and sparkling, our handler snaps his fingers over his right shoulder, causing a glamorous waitress to appear, wearing a cheongsam and with a hyper East Asian face.
In a crisp, early 20^th Century RP, his voice deeper than Marc’s (the deepest voiced Human I’ve ever met in the flesh) and almost as low as Björn’s, he instructs “A Vesper martini, shaken not stirred, for the gentleman and, for the lady, a black widow I believe. I shall take a glass of Aalborg Taffel akvavit for myself… chilled but neat.”
“Very good, Sir, right away.” she defers, bowing a little before backing away to prepare the order.
Smiling with the mouth of a Christopher Lee in his 80s, our tuxedoed host says “Well… Agent Byrne and Agent Pereira… It will be satisfying to remove the ‘MIA’ markers currently attached to both of your files(!)”
“*Ha*… Yes… a lot has happened, Sir.” I smile, crookedly, the face I’m wearing and the voice I’m speaking with making the line sound way cooler than it would IRL.
“Which surely means a lot to report… doesn’t it?” he smirks back.
“Yes, Sir.” answers my jumpsuited partner, whose early 21^st Century, mildly scifi attire looks kind of anachronistic in this Cold War era setting “The first piece of intelligence we have to report is that Jackson ‘Scout’ Stetter is dead…”
The old man blinks a few times before asking “I’m sorry, Agent… would you mind repeating that? I believe I must have misheard you…”
“Wanted terrorist assassin, Jackson ‘Scout’ Stetter, tracked us and took our ship out of commission in a fight that saw both him and (temporarily) us stranded on the new planet. He survived his crash but was later apprehended and neutralized.” she expands.
“I… see… and, from the use of the passive voice there, I take it this neutralisation was not your handiwork, was it?”
“It wasn’t, no. That was the work of the current Empress of one of the new species in a trial by combat she fought against him.”
Our handler’s eyebrows rise slightly but he stays composed as he clarifies “‘One of the new species’?… I had inferred that you had likely made contact with some entity but… you’re telling me there was more than one?”
“Yes, Sir…” I jump in “…the planet AG10790263b, newly christened ‘Graom-Wakhkort’, is host to two, extremely distinct, species.”
“Well!… That’s quite the revelation!… That’s quite a few revelations in fact!” states our host as the cheongsamed waitress returns with our drinks, placing a squared glass of sugared, blackberry vodka-soda in front of Ms Romanoff, a martini glass of cloudy, mixed spirits with a sheen of ice on it and garnished with a spiral of lemon peel in front of me and an ice free, narrow rimmed, tiny wineglass of clear, very slightly yellow tinted spirit in front of the real life inspiration for the character Daniel Craig was most notable for playing, before shuffling backwards away from the table.
She prepared our drinks way faster than realistic… A perk of full dive VR; waiting times can be a lot lower than in real life!
Closing a wizened hand around his glass, our handler raises it across the table to us.
“Cheers.” he smiles.
“Cheers.”
“Cheers.” answer me and Ziva in quick succession, raising the drinks he ordered us to *clink* against his.
I take a sip of the ice cold cocktail.
There’s not much flavor to it.
Tiny bit of sweetness. Lemon. Quinine. Notes of orange.
I can’t really taste the gin.
I think it would benefit from a few drops of orange bitters to fill the utter void of flavor that is this drink.
Bet I look stylish drinking it though!
Placing down his akvavit, our host starts “So, I suppose I should start by asking why exactly the Empress was giving Mr Stetter a trial by combat?”
“That was due to him having murdered her father, the previous Emperor, in cold blood… He was initially given a jury trial but got frustrated by the deadlock induced by the juries’ structure and opted for trial by combat instead… I think he was joking when he suggested it… mocking their court system.” I explain.
His mouth twists in a light frown “Not exactly an ideal start to our relations… I assume this business didn’t have a positive effect on this species’ sentiments toward us?”
“There was a significant chilling effect brought on in the immediate aftermath… but our assessment is that it was mostly thawed by the time we departed.” answers Ziva.
“That’s encouraging… and it’s doubly encouraging that we can stand down the search for Mr Stetter… That little embarrassment… losing the man who assassinated our representative when he was nought but a stasised brain in a jar, cost the UTCS Spite and, by extension, the Navy at large a lot of the cachet they had earned by so swiftly resolving that pirate situation with the Jukt!… Though, it is a little unnerving that there are apparently individuals among this species who are more than a match for one of the most dangerous beings alive… I take it they’re quite formidable?”
“‘Formidable’ doesn’t exactly do them justice, Sir… Would you like to see for yourself?” I suggest.
“Please, Agent…” he invites.
I open my console in front of me and select two files to load in.
All three of us look to the doorway as we hear the heavy, stabbing footfalls of eight powerful legs rumbling down the hallway.
The Vrakhand NPC woman appears on the far side and has to bend her upper body forwards and scrunch in her legs by quite a lot to fit through.
The other patrons don’t react with horrified screams and shrieks of terror at the monstrous looking being who just entered the establishment and each of whose footfalls punches a several inch deep hole in the floorboards. Instead, the waitress who brought us our drinks just calmly organizes the customers in moving their tables aside to clear a path.
On her heels follows a (way less striking looking) model of a male Vrakhand.
They both sit on the floor at the table next to us.
“My word… I can see what you mean… I certainly wouldn’t wish to meet one of these in a dark alley(!)” he says, his eyes fixed on the woman.
“They’re called the Vrakhand. That’s a female. That’s a male. These are fairly prototypical examples. The Empress is much larger and stronger than most. They have a heavily martial culture. Conservative in nature. Strict sense of gender segregation. Their armor is thought to be moderately bullet resistant and known to be impressively resistant to plasmaweapons…” rattles off Ziva.
“Plasmaweapons were used on one of them?!” he asks, head whipping to her, alarmed.
I shake my head and explain “Not one of them… One of what we infer to be their closest extant cousin species… much more formidable but firmly nonsapient.”
“Well, that’s a relief… but…” he leans forward, speaking conspiratorially despite us being the only people who actually exist in this digital world “…what about the million credit question?”
“As the situation stands…” starts Ziva in the turn of the millennium DanoAmerican woman’s voice “…neither these guys nor the other species would make any significant difference in the event of a Second War, no matter which side they joined… Their low tech level aside, they just don’t have the numbers!… Sure, they’re individually formidable but they only number in the high tens of thousands and the other species are only in the single digit millions… a drop in the ocean on the scale of galactic warfare… Give them both another 500 years to colonise and multiply and they might become relevant but, I don’t know about you two, I don’t plan to be in this line of work that long(!) I’d say that’s a problem for our successors(!)”
“Yet another relief…” he exhales “…as nice as the thought of gaining a staunch, powerful ally is, the thought of the gardenworlders panicking and attacking them (forcing us to rapidly deploy to the far end of the galaxy to defend them or allow them to be wiped out) is not! If they’re currently so insignificant, it will be much easier to temper the blowback to their revelation. And, of course, it isn’t the nightmare scenario of them being a force comparable to the UTC (and hostile thereto) with the galaxy being caught in the crossfire… but that was already a rather outside possibility… I suppose you should show me this other species as well though?”
“Actually, Sir, there’s one more notable thing about these guys that I want to bring to your attention first.” says Ziva.
“Oh?”
“Yes… You see all those red places? Teeth? Toothplates? Fangs? Claws? Feet? Leg spines? Those are made of a substance known in English as ‘thanatite’ and it has some… interesting material properties.”
“What kind of properties?” queries the deep voiced man.
“It’s not quite as tough as durasteel but it’s close. It’s lightweight, it’s biological and it might have the same plasma resistance as the rest of their armour.” I explain in my British accent, taking a sip of my martini before continuing “It could be the basis for a whole new style of battle armour… if certain cultural and ethical issues can be navigated tactfully.”
“It’s highly prized by them and by the other species, the Twigg, but it doesn’t naturally shed, so, the only ways to get it are by dismembering their dead or by dismembering their living… As a consequence, it holds a… I think the best word would be, ‘venerated’ position in their culture. Growing suits of the stuff shouldn’t be a challenge, it’s just not clear how the Vrakhand would react to that kind of appropriation. It might alienate them, especially if it came to light that we’d done it covertly without clearing it first.” elaborates Ziva.
“Hmmm… I see. A thorny issue indeed… If it were so much better on balance, it would near instantly put every durasteel foundry worker in Terran Space out of business… might also be perceived as provocative by the rest of the GU… This will require some careful consideration…” muses our host “…but that’s something I’ll probably need to bring the politicians and diplomats in on, not the UTCIS’s decision to make… For now, please show me this second species…”
Wordlessly, I reopen my console and load in two more files.
Appearing at the door come a male and female Twigg, padding down the wide channel through the tables to join the Vrakhand.
Quizzically, the brown eyed man asks “You’re… certain these two species are from the same cradleworld?”
Ziva grins with her borrowed face and says “Like Agent Byrne said, they’re very distinct but none of the data suggests xenogenesis for either of them… They are related, however distantly(!)”
“I see… the ‘Twigg’ you said they were called?” he confirms.
“Yes, Sir… Male. Female. Prototypical examples. Easy going nature, generally. Classless. Egalitarian. Propertyless. Communitarian. No gender segregation. Staunch practitioners of free love(!)” she smirks.
“Night and day… comparing the two!” opines the graybeard “Are they anything like as fearsome as this Empress apparently is?”
Ziva and I both hesitate over that question.
I’m the first to articulate “They’ve… got quite a different skillset… but they’re not to be taken lightly, whatever their size might make you believe.”
“Show me.” he invites, fixing his deep brown eyes on me.
“Alright, Sir… Hey, excuse me…?” I call the male Twigg NPC.
He gets down from the high stool he was sat on and plods over.
“Yes?” he asks, staring blankly at me.
“See that wall over there? I want you to run to it and back here as fast as you can!”
“OK.” he agrees, unquestioningly, getting down on all fours.
He streaks across the bar, rebounds off the far wall with all four of his limbs meeting it and springs to run back, skidding to a stop at the precise point he left from, all inside of a few seconds.
“Now, I want you to jump as high as you can into the air.”
From a standing start, he jumps easily high enough to put his toes 6ft off the ground.
“Now do that with a triple backflip.”
He does so, easily.
“Now… Err, Ziva, could I borrow a kni-”
She instantly produces a long, deadly sharp blade out of nowhere and places it into my hand
“Thanks.”
I turn back to the little green skinned man and hand him the knife.
“I want you to throw this up in the air so that it does 15 ½ revolutions over its end and catch it on the back of your hand without getting cut, cutting anyone else or dropping it.”
He immediately flicks the blade upwards, spinning way more rapidly than it would need to if he were making use of all the space above him instead of only half of it.
It comes down as he sticks his hand into its path, accommodating for it’s momentum to prevent it bouncing off him.
Wobbling slightly but perfectly balanced across his knuckles is the blade he just threw.
“Thank you, Sir. That’s everything.” I say as I take the knife and hand it back to Ziva, seeing the shock in our hosts eyes as I look at him.
“You didn’t programme that? Those are natural abilities?”
“Yes, Sir… Natural abilities. These guys just became the fastest, most dextrous, most kinaesthetic and most agile species in the galaxy…” I smile “…not to mention having working and procedural memories much better than any Human, even Neanderthals.”
“Well… that’s… quite something!… You have included these files in the data parcel you’re leaving, haven’t you?” he asks, gesturing over the table of NPCs.
“Yes, Sir.” answer me and Ziva in unison.
“Good… I think further testing is required.”
“Oh… err… Sir?” smirks Ziva “Before I forget, a word of warning: unless you are abnormally interested in screeding techniques… I’d skip the building section… Gamoiwoth may be an expert architect but an engaging writer he is not(!) The Vrakhand live in silk tents, the Twigg live in small earthworks… There! I just saved you several hours…”
“Thank you for the warning, Agent… Perhaps I can skim that part(!)” he chuckles “Now… tell me, you two… we’ve only made preparations for one department to be allocated to this new species. Knowing there are two species, what would you recommend? A second allocation for this second species, splitting the existing department into Vrakhand and Twigg teams that still closely coordinate or forging ahead as planned with one department in charge of both species?”
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Discord
Dramatis Personae

29 yo male East coast Contoura wavefront Nearsighted and astigmatism $4250
Idk my actual prescription numbers but i had been wearing glasses since I was 10 or so, and most likely needed them before that. My astigmatism had gotten to the point where driving at night was just unbearable, so I finally decided to have lasik done.
Researched some places near me and honestly, I went to the highest rated one that was about 5 min from my house. They did a pre op appointment to see if I was eligible (this took a longggggg time, multiple dilations) but at the end said I was a good candidate and they’d schedule an appointment with the lasik coordinator. About a week later I met with her, went over price and payment, and scheduled my surgery.
Surgery went well- couple of pre op things, two Valium, and then I went on the table. Took all of 10 minutes, wasn’t fun but for somewhere who couldn’t wear contacts because of things touching my eye I was surprised at how easy it was.
Vision was blurry but better immediately, went home and took a nap- woke up and could mostly see. Vision progressively got better over the next few days.
I never had dry itchy eyes or any complications- just some bruising in the whites of my eyes.
Went for my one week post op yesterday- both eyes are now at least 20/15 (they don’t measure any lower there) Doc said everything looked great and my flap is almost completely healed.
My astigmatism is not currently fixed- I still see rays of light but not as bad as before, they’re more contained around the light and there’s a soft glow. Doc said it gets better as the surface completely heals, but I also have large pupils that let in a lot of light so I may always have it to some degree.
I’m overall very happy. It was quick and easy, healing was great and I’ve never had any discomfort. Being able to wake up and just see has been wild, and I’m so excited to finally wear cheap gas station sunglasses.

If you're reading this, this is part 3. The conclusion, the end of the beginning. If you haven't read parts 1 or 2, you should read both so you know what exactly is going on here. Also, there will be a pt 4 because of character limitations. My husband's job has been hard on him and it's been hard on me and it's been hard on us. Things may be better today, as of this writing, but at that point it was at it's worst. Bar none. He had gone on trips internationally before, but not often. When he did, he still wasn't gone for as long as this extended SERIES of conferences and meetings he was dealing with. So here's the deal, around the time I looked out the window for the first time, my husband had just left for that "job" or whatever you want to call it ( I can't say "a mandatory and vital series of meetings" every time). He was going to be coming back for ONE WEEK the weekend after I did work on the property with Joe and Bran and friends, then he was going back for another TWO MONTHS. The worst part is there was a window where could have briefly come back again, but out of convenience, decided not to. That means my husband, just for that job assignment alone, was taken from me for three months. 1/4 of a year. NOT counting everything else in the previous year. Much less the previous ten years... All the same, I was furious. We did fight about it, but not much. There was alot we should have said to each other and done differently that we didn't. All the same he didn't often call. He didn't always answer my calls. When we talked he was brief. I was so so upset. I'm going to have to write an entire dealy (publication?) About my husband, his virtues and his faults. All I can say is while I won't tell you yet what's changed, thank God things are better. Now that I have that little bit out of the way, I have something else to say. In that month, as previously stated, I had developed a real bond with Joe and Bran and even Brandon's friends. Brandon wanted to study psychology. It was because of his aunt, who was bipolar and his grandmother, who had dementia. He wanted to just generally study that field so he could learn to help with those issues. He's real sweet and good natured. He also looks up to Joe, very clearly, just as the boys look up to Brandon. Joe's a walking book of random knowledge. He's always active and doing something. Obviously a personal trainer, he also meditates and reads a lot of philosophy. He also plays his guitar like Eddie van Halen or something and it's kinda hot. He's a sweet guy as well: like I said, always volunteering and helping somehow. Josh comes from a family of cops and sportsman. He knows a lot about hunting and fishing and different kinds of wildlife. He wants to become a conservation officer. John wants to study French and maybe even teach it. He really wants to see Europe and the world. Jason is really funny and lighthearted. He might make me laugh the most. His career intentions are to follow in the footsteps of his father and uncle and become a firefighter. His family seems to want him to not just dive in head first with that idea though. Dave wants to go career in the army and try to become a Ranger and he seems pretty dead set on it. I know he can do it. He's a real serious guy but he's as sweet as the rest of them when you get his guard down. Aside from that Dave is real quiet. And you see, I learned all this and so much more in unexciting mundane conversations before the time this trip even occurred. Truth is we were all close friends already. And I absolutely did NOT trash talk my husband to any of them, but they knew I was upset he was gone. And that I had been lonely. We had a lot of little conversations I did not share here, and some inside jokes. Some of this is personal to me even aside from an anonymous diary. I was already making memories. They're special to me. SO. Bearing all that mind, Joe and I met up in the morning at Catherine's house to load up Brand&Co. After talking to Cathy for about 20 minutes, we all piled in and we hit the road. The drive didn't seem as long as it was, we talked and listened to music and joked. When we arrived at the property it was about 9am. I was wearing some long shorts and a loose white tee shirt. Aside from that, I had my Plumb bracelet on as usual, I kept my hair tied up, and I had some leather cowgirl boots with floral stamping across the top. I came with equipment for the job: we did come here to get work done. Before I even started playing my little game with them, I was going to make sure we got at least the basic needs of the job done. When we got out and got the drink cooler on the ground, Joe passed around some machetes and hatchets he'd brought with him. I gave out some protective canvas aprons as well as shin and arm guards. I had some canvas pants I also ended up changing into to protect my legs. We put in real work, we weren't fuckin around out there. We chopped down brush, moved fallen (not too large) trees aside to one area to be chopped into firewood, trimmed the dead trees and made bundles of kindling. By five p.m. we were done with the first day's work goals. It was a hot day out that day, and when we got done with most of the brush Joe took his shirt off and wrapped it around his head. It looked all arabian n stuff. He had shown Brandon how to do that and he did the same. Then the others wanted to know how and they showed them. It was great and I didn't say much, I just watched them all take their shirts off and make fancy hats out of them. They were tense from working. Their stomachs, their chests, their arms, they were tight. You could tell because their abs, and everyone but John had them, were popping out a bit. Their chests bulged a bit. Hell, even my washboard (which I am very proud of) was fairly present under my shirt. It was such a nice visual, and I had such a good time nurturing them toward the end. They told me to take a rest for the night at 4 or so that day, so I went and got snacks and refreshed their water, made sure it was iced down and cold etc. When work was coming to an end, I had some groceries thrown in the fridge and I knew it was almost time to prep for dinner. I told them I'd need to be the first to shower so I could get their dinner started. When I got in the bathroom of our country house (a very nice one, no neighbors for miles) I smiled so hard it almost hurt as I opened my travel bag. The bathroom was already prepped with towels and toiletries, the bedrooms (there were four) were all furnished, beds made. The other three had to share the ginormous couch with a fold out bed. Oh well, I already had bedding ready to go there too. Anyway, my travel bag. I pulled out my new outfit, which was going to be very simple: a short and very low cut sundress. After my shower, when I put it on, I felt a thrill when I saw it stop just below my ass. My girls felt they could spring free at any time. And when I say I wore just that sundress, I mean it: ONLY that sundress....and my dumb bracelet. After that I put my hair up in a messy bun, did my makeup and went out to make dinner. As I turned the hallway corner, I saw Joe coming up the stairs. "I was wondering how long it would be." I could hear the smile in his voice "I got next!". "Well you get in there and wash your balls good then mister." I said to him as he ran by me, without thinking. He let out a surprised laugh and right as his hind quarters passed me, I just reactively slapped his ass. I could have just raised my right hand and stared at it in disbelief right there, except I didn't wanna look anymore crazy than I did. So I just turned to him blushing, not knowing what to say. Luckily I didn't have to say much. He goes "Oh baby, do it again!" and stuck his ass out at me. I started laughing histerically. The others were outside putting tools away. "Go ahead, I've been a bad boy". With a giggle I smacked his ass again. "Oh, that's firm" I said. I smacked it again even harder "daaaamn look at that jello jiggle!" Is what I heard myself say. Luckily that was also funny, so we laughed really hard again. Then he got in the shower and I went down stairs. I made Maple glaze salmon that night with some scallops and baked potatoes. While I was cooking, Brandon walked in the kitchen. Joe might have been just finishing his shower, and Josh, Dave, John and Jay were all watching some TV while they waited for me. Bran, like Joe, was always learning about different things. This or that nifty knowledge, how to do this thing or that thing. I guess Bran had been learning about card tricks for a long time before I met him again with Joe and his friends, and I just didnt know yet, because he walked in with a deck of cards with his tank top on. Tank tops don't have sleeves, remember. We took the time to do a little card trick. Crazy thing is, he asked me to pick any card from the deck, with it all spread out and backward where he couldn't see. I pulled the card back where he couldn't see. He let me shuffle and cut the deck. Then he put it to the side. My card was the queen of hearts. He had me pick up my kitchen sheers and cut it to pieces. I threw the pieces in the trash can. Then he handed me an apple. "No way". "Go ahead and look" is what he said. I took a paring knife and shaved a top side off the apple. My knife hit a bit of resistance. I put my fingers on the little disturbance, and I jumped because I just knew it was my card. I pulled it out slowly, and behold, there it was, folded in half. The queen of hearts. "Holy shit! How did you do that?!" Is what I yelled. Then I realized that when I jumped, my left tit came out a bit. I looked down and my nipple was showing. I looked at him, he looked at me, we both were red. He then gently reached out and covered it back up, winked, and told me a good magician never reveals his secrets. It's a good thing I hadn't put anything to heat yet, because something would have burned. During dinner I was so turned on. That fun in the hall with Joe, that magic trick and my nip slip, it had me in the clouds. Especially since we had such a good group conversation at the table. Joe and I had a couple of glasses of red wine. I remembered some of the work i was going to have done to the shed the next day, then suddenly felt a bit bold. As I was showing them how the fold out bed worked, I asked Joe if he, Josh and Dave could come outside so I could show them some things about the shed. The door needed to be re-hinged and painted. They said sure and I led them outside. So I said "so as you can see here we need to change these hinges, then we have some paint for the door." They already knew this and Dave nodded his head as if to say "okay and?". So then I went "oh hold on there are some things in here I'm gonna check on. Just wait right here okay guys?" Joe goes "Sure I guess" in a laid back way and leaned against a fencing pole. I then went in the shed, directly in Joe's line of sight from where he leaned, left the door cracked enough to where he could see, along with Josh and Dave on either side of him, starting to chat. I leaned over a sawhorse and started playing with the handle of a big axe on a whole rack of axes. I was drunk you see, but not as drunk as I seemed. I knew what I was doing. I leaned down just a bit more, and out came my ass and puss. I heard Joe gasp and whisper "Dave, Josh, look" followed by Josh's own whisper "oh my god" and Dave's "you mean there is a God after all." I soaked. My pussy made Dave "believe in God" I loved it. I then stood up, slowly pulled my dress down, and turned around like they didn't just see what just happened. They were pretending they were still just talking. I stumbled out of the shed. "Shawna let's get you to bed, I think yer drunk" Joe laughed. And hey, I was, wasn't I? "Busted. Okay. We gotta get up early, let's turn in." Or something like that. They all teased me about my walk a little bit and got me into my bedroom. I smiled again. I won the game again, and suddenly, when they had left, I could walk straight. I opened my bag back up and brought out three special travel companions. I pulled my sundress off over my head and threw it on the bed, next to my tango bullet, Hitachi vibrator, and I even brought a vibrating buttplug. Fun fact, the master bedroom in our country house is sound proofed. Before my husband and I bought it, the previous owner had a home recording studio. He had sound proofed the room. We decided we wanted to keep it that way, as a measure of protection of kids hearing mom and dad getting frisky many years before. We didn't get much use out of that feature, but now I'd get a little use out of it. I still wasn't super loud, but I jacked off for hours. Best session of my life. I'm sure you could imagine. That was a thrilling night, a magic one in a way (Brandon), but the next day, well, that was where the real magic was. No card tricks, just nature. We got up early, about 5 am. They worked on the shed for a couple hours. I made everybody breakfast while they began their work, everyone stopping briefly to eat before I joined them. I grabbed the posthole digger and helped put in more fencing poles for the shed. The door had been painted and new hinges put on. There was a bit more brush to get at we'd missed, and we had left a couple of dead trees behind the night before. We took care of them now. After a couple of hours of working with them, Joe told me he wanted me on concession duty. I happily agreed: I liked that he was my own personal foreman. "Yes boss!" I smiled. "I'll get you guys something to drink after I get changed." It was even a little hotter that day than the previous one. In truth it was still early on in the day. "You get a shower first if ya want, we still got a while but you might as well." He didn't have to tell me twice. "You got it, I ain't gonna argue. I'll be back in about a half hour." That was it. I was prepared to deploy my most nuclear option yet. This was gonna be the most fun run on the chessboard. When I got out of the shower, I put on an outfit that I knew would be good for the heat. I put on the most coochie-cuttinest daisy dukes anyone could hope to see. The only way to see more of my ass would be if it was what Joe Dave and Josh saw the previous night: completely bare. Because let me tell you, my ass was OUT. All. The. Way. Out. It may as well have been a thong. As for my top, it was a lot like my multi cam bikini top, except it was cotton, and white. I mean, technically it was a low cut belly shirt. In truth it's a white strip of cloth that just barely covered me tats. Then I put on the floral stamped cowgirl boots and my bracelet. For my hair, I put it up in a messy bun, but this bun was ESPECIALLY messy, in a sexy way. I was just tramping myself out. I didn't really apply any makeup. I didn't want to sweat it off. I'm just happy I have a pretty face. So this actually took about 40 minutes, but I could tell they didn't mind the wait when I came out with a pitcher of ice water. I got them all hydrated and cooled down, with them for a time speechless. It more or less turned out like the bikini though, soon we were talking like normal. In their bewildered silence, and I could tell: their lust, I felt empowered. I loved feeling their eyes turn on my ass while I poured the next man his water. I loved that that didn't change when they could all talk correctly again. Then I got to see something I had never seen before in my life: six HOT AS FUCK MEN chopping trees down into logs and splitting the logs into firewood. They each had their shirts off, in blue jeans and steel toed boots. Some of them had them before, Joe gave one of the young men a pair and I paid for two pair at the last second earlier in the week. Let me remind you of something. Most of you are thinking it. So I'm just gonna point it out: Five of these six MEN were eighteen years old. Now look, Josh and Jay had some youth in their faces. In fact all of them did, but those were the only two you'd guess were even teenagers. Even they could pass for 25. A hot 25. There's a reason why I say the word "men" with such emphasis: these were undeniably young beasts. Young beasts though they were, they were beasts all the same: men. They have the bodies of men. The mentalities of men. The posture, the Jaw lines, everything. They may have only been 18 years old, and at the time I was 47, I was 29 years older than them. All the same, they were undeniable. I was lucky. Most women would melt at what I saw that day, long as they didn't know their age. If they did find out, some would be as I have become, and maybe explode that much harder in their brains. I went kinda brain dead. The fact is though, they ARE men. Young, beautful men. So there were those young foxes, along with their leader fox: Joe, on my property, topless. Their chests bulged as they chopped at the wood, hacked at it and split it. Their biceps bulged, their asses looking good as they pivoted for their swings. I spent quite a while blanked out, watching them. I found myself objectifying them. "Swing that axe you slut" I thought at Brandon. "Let me see those titties bulge when you swing." I was laughing on the inside, while at the same time insanely horny. I could tell they were all showing off for me while I stood and watched them by the drink station, basically naked. I saw John's body tense and in action. Even though he kind of had a dad bod, his muscles popped when he was in action. You could see all the tensity concentrate in his biceps, triceps, chest, and rock-muscle stomach. He was built like a linebacker, that's why he was a linebacker. I fed everyone a light lunch once they were just over half way done with the dead trees. I sat down next to John at the table and put my hand through his blonde hair, feeling a little wreckless, and rubbed his arm. "You boys are doing a really good job out there." I told him, sex in my voice. Of course I was really talking to all of them. They all went quiet. "Well boys, don't worry. You just keep putting your backs in like you have, and you'll finish it off in no time." I don't know why, but it even surprised me when my tone ended in what almost sounded like an intense sexual advancement. All the same I had turned to Joe and rubbed my hand a couple times up and down his chest as I had finished that sentence. I turned and faced forward. "Well everyone, let's eat!" I said with a smile. Now obviously there was a tension. They all knew I knew what I did there. I don't know why, but I wanted them to know. I was just all worked up from watching them chop and split all that wood. The tension wasn't awkward though. I don't know if you could understand, but it was something like a "jovial impatience"? We had a good but hurried lunch conversation. Everyone was friendly, happy even, yet tense because of my stunt. All the same, I could tell they loved my little stunt. I had forgotten all about my husband. We went back outside, and they kept showing off. They showed off all the way till there was nothing left of those trees or logs. Josh's massive frame just pulverized that wood. Every woman should love wood, and they would if only they saw the wood I saw (see what I did there? But no seriously that's not a joke I WAS ON FIRE). Dave's massive chest just puffed out of his thiccc body. Jason was able to split many logs back to back, his core flexing. Him and Brandon were competing. It was all for me. I was high. I served them their water, and had found myself in a place where I could cognitively function by the time they had finished. We went inside just in time for the last of the water from that pitcher to go. They all trailed across the yard behind me, like fawns following a doe as we went toward the house, at that point in a more relaxed but giddy conversational tone. I wasn't fooling anybody anymore. I think to be honest with you, everyone was high. I was high off them, and they were high off me and my body, and at my age too. I felt so powerful. When we all got inside we all took showers. I of course was taking my second one but this was my house and I was going first. I just redressed to the same outfit though, except this time laid my makeup on thick with my ol' daisy dukes and low cut belly shirt. I came down stairs as the next one went up, and they came back down in night clothes as we all stood in the kitchen and talked. Mostly they wore gym shorts and tanks, Brandon had swim trunks on for some weird reason, and no shirt. I had no complaints. Joe and I were on our second bloody Mary each, as would become a custom with us, as John, the last of them, came down. At a point, I thought I smelled weed. I wonder if Brandon and his friends smoked a joint while I was in the shower. I think we were all under the influence. Well one way or another, a natural cycle had occurred. You could feel it in the air. We were high, if anything, from nature. John said "So Shawna, what was up with my arm earlier?". Joe then goes "oh yeah, and you seemed to like my chest". "Welllll..." I giggled, I just wanted to tell the truth "you all just looked so good out there. I don't even care, I just want you guys to know you're all hot." Then Brandon went "ya know, thats why I wore trunks down here". I bit my lip "oh yeah?" Right at that moment I looked down at his trunks, and had only at that moment noticed the head of his penis barely popping out of the bottom of the trunks, right by his right inner thigh. I had barely registered his shroom tip when Brandon responded to me: "yeah, because if I changed clothes the way you change every time I saw you, I would've walked down like this!" Then before anyone could react, he stripped his trunks down to his ankles, stood up straight, and everyone then saw a literal elephant trunk swung around between his legs. The phrase "baby arm" doesn't do it justice. My Jaw dropped and everyone, myself included, died laughing. "Holy shit!" Joe shouted "We got Lex fuckin Steele in the house!" Josh yelled "God damn!" Dave stuttered "holy...holy fuck Bran. I didnt know you had an extra leg" while John, without missing a beat followed that with "yeah bro, nice dick." And everyone exploded into laugher again. Joe choked out the words "I never thought I'd ever hear anyone say that." "So Shawna, what do you think?" Brandon asked when everyone was done laughing, still naked, throwing his trunks over his shoulders, presenting himself before me. Now remember, this was the first time I'd ever seen a dick up close that wasn't my husband's. I had no idea they could actually get that big. To tell the truth I loved how it looked. I'd seen some in movies, and what little bit of porn i'd seen. They usually looked gross when I had seen them on whatever screen or other. I couldn't take my eyes off of Bran's at all though. And I was drunk and insanely horny. So I told him the truth while saying as little as possible. "Well...I love it. I've only ever seen my husband's, and his isn't half as nice as yours." I was trying not to hyperventilate as I said that to him. "Just like his body isn't as nice as yours." Everyone yowled and cheered. "Well, if that's the case then maybe you should get to see the rest of us" I barely heard Joe say through my brain fog. By the time I registered the words, the rest of them were stripping completely naked. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. As Joe finished exposing his muscular body to me, he lithely and with all the confidence in the world picked up his wine glass, raised it to me with his own beautful, sizeable appendage swinging around in front of him, and said "to your beauty." I don't think they had any idea just how bad I had it for them. I mean, clearly they wanted to reciprocate by showing me their naked bodies. They all just got naked though. Unprompted. At the same time. JUST FOR ME. (high) But, God damn. Remember, the plan was to jack off. I wasn't planning on sleeping with them, much less actually seeing them in the buff. (They were SO buff) At that point though I'd nearly completely become an animal. I was paralyzed, trying to hold onto the last of my common sense, assuming any was left. I mean, I know I was basically naked, but the truth is they were all now LITERALLY naked. Technically, I still had all my clothes on. I was fighting myself to keep it that way. Now hands down, Brandon had the biggest wang piece. Remember I had gone from having only seen one dangly thang ever in my life to seeing six, all at the same time. My brain was in a fog. Between the muscles, the men they were attached to, and now, well, all the cock, I couldn't focus. All their cocks just looked so beautiful to me. They were all perfect. None of them were small, all their dicks were fat. Brandon's the longest, and really thick. Dave's was the shortest, still at decent length, it was also the fattest. My focus was fading, instincts taking stronger grip on me. I came to with all of us laughing. I don't remember what we were laughing at. They couldn't have been buffed out for more than 2 minutes. "So Shawna, who's is the nicest?" I heard one of them say. I concentrated and noted they had all lined up side by side. All their beautful faces in plain view. Followed by their manly necks. Then their gorgeous chests and arms. Then their.....delicious cocks...then legs, even their feet looked amazing in that moment. Top hairs of their heads down to their toes. "Well Jay, I don't know if I could choose. I can't describe it. I don't have a favorite" I heard myself whisper out of my mouth. My focus came back a bit "But look guys, I'm married, I don't know if we should be doing this." Joe and Bran walk out of the line a little bit and I could see they all were becoming erect. None of them had touched themselves, but they were all rising. Joe and Brandon, I saw, were rock solid as they stepped a bit in my direction. I gasped. "Come on Shawna. You don't have to do anything, but there's nothing wrong with liking what you see." That was Brandon. I stared at his cock and I stared at Joe's, which was also amazing, my inner animal prioritizing attention to the two closest to me. I forgot to respond, I just stared. "You wanna touch it?" I heard Joe say. "You can touch it." I just reached up and gripped his beautiful cock, felt it pulse, rock hard in my hand, and immediately felt a rush and stroked it a good two times before I felt Brandon kiss my neck from behind. I kissed him back and for about five seconds of pure instinct I jacked joe off while Brandon made out with me. Then I snapped back to reality. "Guys, I just can't!" as I jumped up and away from them and moved back. It was in that moment I saw my top in Brandon's hand. I looked down and saw my chest was completely bare. I felt emberassed and full of an anxiety that wasn't quite fear. I also was way turned on by that, because it was almost like some kind of magic trick. So anyway, there I was with my tits out... Really, there I was with my tits out. "Come on miss Shawna, we think you wanna be a bad girl, don't you?" I heard Brandon say that and he walked toward me, a beast stalking me. Then Joe walked from behind me "she already has been bad" then I felt his body connect to mine, and kissed my neck again. I could barely quiver out the words "I'm married" as his hands explored my chest, right as Brandon walked in front of me and he started making out with me too. A glimpse at Dave, Jay, Josh and John showed me they were completely hard. "But don't you agree you've been bad, Shawna?" Joe asked me. "I agree I've been bad, but I-" then I was interrupted as those words shook out from my vocal chords. I felt Joe bend me over slightly while standing, and slap my ass. "Then you need to get that ass busted!" Then he just slapped my ass five good times, very quickly. I began to give in. I looked up as Brandon closed back in. Just behind him on our wall hung a picture of me and my husband when we were about 22, on vacation in Italy. We were kissing under an umbrella on the beach, sitting. Brandon grabbed my hair, firmly but it didn't really hurt. Not that bad anyway. All the same, I gripped his cock with both hands. I squeezed it once, with the firm pulse resisting my hands, pushing them back out. One more time, I knew this would be the last time I was gonna be able to say this. So I figured I better make it loud. "I can't I'm marr-" I barely whimpered out. I was not loud, I just couldn't be. And I wasn't able to finish my sentence, because I was interrupted again. Those words whimpered out, and before I could finish the word "married" Brandon put his gigantic cock in my mouth. I immediately started to suck. It was over. They could do whatever they wanted. The animal was here. While Joe spanked my ass I tried to suck Brandon's dick. The truth is it was too big for me to properly suck. He could barely get passed his head before I gagged. Then I started to get the hang of it a bit. I closed my mouth and gave direct suction as fast as I could go with as much as i could handle. Bran moaned with a sound that came straight out of soul. I loved it. I had power in my mouth and hands, that young big dicked foxy fuck. Right at that moment Joe pulled my dukes down to my ankles, stood back up, and with a squeeze and a slap of my ass "yeah, suck his dick you fuckin slut!". I loved the sudden assertiveness. and personality switch. I loved he called me a dirty word. I was discovering I love sucking Brandon's dick. Then Joe started playing with my puss and exploring my body while I sucked on Bran. He kept the spankin going too while he did all that. Somehow. The others had started jacking their cocks off. They noticed I liked it when Joe called me a slut. They called me a whore and a slut and all kinds of dirty things while they cheered me on. Then I felt Joe and Brandon straighten me out and walk me to the living room, then push me down onto the carpeted floor. I landed face down. I turned back and faced them, still completely an animal. A new Shawna was here. I faced them on the ground, leaning back, my legs together. And I have to say, this was the moment. You see, what I saw in front of me was a canvased painting. I saw what this really was. They all stood again side by side, this time half way into the living room. Their body language tense, the silence in the room was indescribable. These were warriors from another village, and I was being conquered, you understand? Or they were part of an army here to liberate me from my tyranical and incompetent husband. You remember how I said I felt when they were cutting the wood? Or at any time my brain blinked out from being turned on? Well, this moment was like that times 100. Or 1000. I haven't experienced it since. Just to remind (again, and I'm sorry) but in addition to these new and exceptional men in my life, having come in as outsiders, as well as their exceptional bodies, there was this brand new thing called "seeing dick up close that wasn't Dan's and there's six of them and they all look like sculptures". I looked up and I saw Bran's pulse, in an almost slow motion moment. Everything about this moment was slowed down. It was like I reached an enlightenment. I saw Brandon's pulse first, then Joe, then Bran again, then Josh, then Joe again, then Dave, then Bran and then Josh again etc. They all pulsed and pulsed. I watched them all swell into hard iron clubs. My vision even brightened, I suddenly could feel a refreshing coolness in the air. I felt my body exposed to the warriors, at their disposal, it was indescribable. A nirvana or a baptism of some kind. An enlightenment in sex, this moment a religious experience. It had become one the moment I hit the floor, and remained one all the way through the night. Suddenly, Joe shifted forward. I reactively inched back. Then Brandon shifted and they both walked toward me. I scooted back inch by inch, slowly. They stepped as I moved. All you could hear was heavy breathing. Then I saw Joe kneel as his club gave a firm wobble. Then Brandon kneeled on the other side of me, I was running out of room. This was all still so slowed down, the rest had stepped in a bit more and stopped, all their hands gripped around their war clubs. Joe grabbed my ankle and pulled me back on the floor fast. I screamed. It wasn't fear though, it was thrilling. I felt myself smile. Then Bran and his Sr officer Joe pinned me down and started to play with my body. They played with my clit and tweaked my nipples and played with my puss, then they laid down on either side of me and kept me on my back, and each made out with me as they kept playing with me, nibbling my ears and neck, sucking my tits and having a good time with me while I stroked them both at the same time. Then I felt Joe drag me to the couch like some kind of cave man and then throw me up on it and leaned me back into a sitting position. He sank down, kissing my body every inch on the way. All the way down between my legs. I almost immediately felt some jolts run through my body from my clit. Yep, he knew how to handle me. I didn't know head could feel that good. Dan even fucking do that right. Right before I started to cum, I started to scream because it felt so intense. Bran had sat next to me, and pulled my head down onto his cock and muffled my scream with his dick. I loved it. I came hard on Joe's face, opened my eyes, and was even more turned on than before. I could focus better suddenly too. Joe had backed off for a second and played with my left tit while Bran played with my right tit. I had pulled my mouth off to recover from my orgasm, Brandon's club in my hand. Then Joe went back down and slowed his pace a bit, and let me revel in it a bit. I started to suck Bran again and started fast. I couldn't even get my face a third of the way down him, but once I found that spot i kept going down while I stroked his shaft quickly from the base almost all the way up to where my lips were. I heard that moan again and he slumped back, completely red, his big chest heaving. "Faster. Harder" I thought, feeling powerful. He came in my mouth and I pulled back and he came more. All over my face and hands and lips while he screamed and Joe just kept eating me. I pulled back once, i remember, got hit in the eye, and then went back down to stop the stream with my mouth. He was slumping all the way back, his eyes closed, I finished sucking him till I was sure the flow had stopped. I was swallowing, and I remeber he tried to push my head off for a second but couldn't, I just kept going. He passed out on the couch with his cock coming to rest on his left thigh, still half inflated. I laid back enjoying the luxury of Joe eating me with Brandon's cum on my face and in my throat, the rest still watching. I loved the taste of him. In that moment I don't think there was any aspect of any of them I couldn't have loved. "Beautiful big dick bastards" I muttered while I grabbed the back of Joe's head and pulled his face into my puss, the smell of Brandon running beneath my nose, then the feeling of him dropping on my right breast. Josh walked up with some wipes while Joe was eating me, Bran passed out, the other three stroking off, and handed them to me. We made eye contact, and we knew what we already knew. It was time. I pushed Joe back, soaking wet, wiped myself down and threw them in the kitchen trash can right around the corner. I seemed to move with a certain sense of authority now. Joe was still on his knees. I could feel a smirk on my face and a twitch in my ass. Brandon started to sit back up, his cock hardening again. "Alright boys!" I shouted in a loud voice that almost wasn't mine, "Make a circle!".

I fedmy full grown male pacman 5 large silkworms in 2 days. How long until I feed him again?

Just quick addendum: this will actually be three parts. Is it bad news though? Not really. If you're reading this that means that part 3 is already published and available to read, because I will be publishing them at the same time. Basically, as I recall all of this, I didn't realize how much there was. Not the biggest deal in the world, but luckily I realized it's really just better to break it into a third part before I released it. So anyway, here's not one but two new parts, concluding this initiation into my personal transformation.
On a perfect mid March morning, I woke up to the sun breaking. I heard birds chirping. I took a shower, did my morning workout routine, took another shower, and put on my outfit. Then I did my makeup. It was 73°F. I remember this day clearly as I remember all the events of the game clearly. Down to the last vivd detail. I do this because this marks a powerful point of symbolic and honestly even literal shifts inside myself and my life itself. The weather had been nice the previous few days, and I smiled when I thought about the game. "The game" being this thing I brought up in part 1: "dress thrills". I was about to play it for the first time. The idea was, I had to dress as slutty as I thought I could get away with without looking like I did it on purpose. To learn to really walk that line. I hadn't necessarily gone out of my way to "dress down" so to speak, except sometimes for my husband, which was always meant to be obvious signs for him anyway. This was supposed to be subtle. How was I going to pull this off? Up to this point I don't believe I've ever given a description of myself. So I'm a 5ft tall blonde woman in her late fourties. I weigh around 120lbs, and the running joke with my friends and later even my mom was that all my body weight was in my ass. Basically I've always been a short skinny girl with a fat ass. I have a pretty face, I've aged pretty well. My complection is more pale, but I tan easily. I have a pretty happenin rack for my age if I do say so myself, I'm a low C. Them ol gals still ain't what they used to be, but i think they're doin great. Anyway, as for my self description, just use your imagination for anything else you'd want to know. So, as I was saying, I was excited when I got dressed. All I was basically going to do was tell a buncha burley boys to haul boxes and totes downstairs from one corner of the basement to the other. Regardless, I had to dress practically. So I wore some high waisted blue jeans. They were elastic blue jeans (jeggings) that hugged my ass tight, to the last outline, and I knew it. Then I wore a low cut top that hung just above my midriff enough to be a tease but not show too much. My top was just revealing enough. My makeup wasn't done super detailed or anything glamorous, but I was still on point. My hair was tied back into a ponytail and I had my white cloudfoam Adidas on because them thangs are comfy. I also put on a cheap bracelet I had sitting around. I had maybe worn it twice before but I'd had it a few years. It was a little rhinestone bracelet in the shape of a halved plumb, pit in view, with little pink and purple and green stones sparkling. As I pulled it out of the box I found myself appreciating it again, even if it was a bit big on my wrist, so I threw it on real quick. I heard the ring of the doorbell. I walked toward it with a mild anxiety, and suddenly became more aware of my ass and it's bounce as I stepped. I took a deep breath and remembered I was getting a bunch of work done for free either way. I felt a bit better. I opened the door and looked up to see the six man crew ready to help me out. Joe was in the front and Brandon right behind him. "Joe!" I greeted him genuinely happily and opened the door. His familiar face warmed me up. "So good to see you!" I walked back and signaled them in. Joe of course was the first one in, so as the boys trailed in behind him I gave him a little hug. It already felt a little too natural for both of us. It was very brief but I fought not to wrap my leg around him. I swear I felt a quick twitch in his right hip. I think he fought something too, in the half second. "We're happily here to help" he said, with his usual wry smile and well meaning look. He's a "helper" if you understand. He spends most of his spare time volunteering to help people somehow anyway. He really wants the best for people. I smiled ear to ear just knowing he was here to offer help with no expectation of anything: just a good man. A gorgeous one. A moment later Brandon trailed behind him and we hugged too. That moment wasn't as discreetly intense, but I'm pretty sure I felt something there too. Now Brandon for a time would call me by my last name, and because Valantine's day has become my favorite Holiday, I'll go with the name "Valantine." So he says, after our hug, "We're ready any time you are Mrs. Valantine". I already felt a bit overwhelmed. Then I realized there were four unfamiliar faces standing there. The ones I'd also.....noticed.....while flickin my bean at Joe and Brandon out in the yard. I hadn't even been introduced to them. "Well I appreciate the enthusiasm, but I don't think I've met your friends." I said, barely succeeding in keeping my voice natural and stable at the time. So, standing almost side by side behind Joe was Jason, David, Josh and John. Joe and Brandon introduced me to each of them. Jason was a redhead who stood about 6' tall. He has a more youthful looking face than the rest of them, but some stubble jutted out of his chin quite masculinely that day. He has a leaner frame. David is a bit shorter than the rest, at about 5'10", with black hair. I noticed he was stacked THICK. His frame is like a refrigerator or something. Very broad shouldered, not at all fat, but uh, "dense" all the same. He had a short and well trimmed beard and sunglasses on. Then there was Josh, who was a baffling 6'5" tall. He had on a white wifebeater and blue jeans. He had brown hair, and his frame wasn't skinny, but he isn't super thick either. Almost like a swimmer. Then there's John. He's a six foot tall blonde who's also thick like Dave. Well, not quite so much, but a similar kind of frame. They were all athletes, and they all looked like it. I saw some very nice shapes in that moment. Some of them, well, they were the kind of shapes that bulge. After the introduction and some small talk I won't bore you with, I led them down stairs into my basement. I swear I could feel them looking at my ass bounce while I walked. I got a little more turned on than I already kind of was. I directed them to a pile of totes while we casually talked. They began to move what was honestly a lot of storage containers for all kinds of things over to the other side of the basement. It was something that needed to be done, but they had no idea they were also kind of doing this for my amusement. I felt a little bit guilty, but also realized this was an opportunity for me to make my creme de la creme play. Telling them that this was my home and I'd feel terrible if I didn't carry something, Joe insisted I just stand back. Not to be told not to help, I in an unusually chipper voice told him I was going to anyway. That's when I approached a large ceramic lamp sitting off to the side. I made sure to take a serious posture to pick it up, squatted, and just before I picked it up I popped my ass out just enough to look natural, and enough for those boys to notice that I do squats regularly. Then I gripped it, slowly picked it up and even rose to the tips of my toes. I quickly came down on my heels from my toes and felt my ass bounce. I knew they all saw THAT. All the same, I carried it over to the other side, feeling my ass give a little jiggle with each step, and put it down with a little grunt. They thought I had no idea that I had given them a nice little show. After that Joe asked me to take it easy and just enjoy some convo. I gratefully agreed and told them I was gonna run to the bathroom real quick. I went upstairs, almost closed the door, leaving a little crack, made some footsteps across the floor and walked in place for a moment in front of my bathroom. The truth is it must have looked funny. Then I crept back over to the basement door and listened. I faintly heard Brandon say, in a low voice: "I know she doesn't know what just happened, but if I could I'd SPANK that ass" There was stifled laughter. Then Joe goes, just as quiet: "Yeah she's a good woman but she's kind of aloof. All the same kid that goes without saying." Then the voices trailed off. Suddenly someone went "HOW old did you say she was?" I smiled. Then I couldn't make much more out. I went back down stairs after a few more moments trying to listen, nothing else really coming through. When I got down stairs we carried on as normal, but I could see some of their faces were a little red. Then Josh pointed out my mother's old sewing machine. He asked if it still worked. To be honest I don't know much about those things, but I saw another opportunity. So I go "while that thing is something like 100 years old, they say that if you keep it well lubricated and taken care of, it should last a long time." And I could tell how it hit their ears, then I pivoted. "Can you imagine life in the 1920s? Even how people viewed their outfits and clothes? What medicine was like?" And that led into a bit more conversation. All the same after they were done I served them all some tea, talked for about another half hour, and saw them on their way out. They had gotten most of the storage moved but there was a bit more that could be done. All the same... By the time they left, I was soaked. It was time for payoff. I won the game. I stripped down, got into my toybox, strapped in and had the MOST fun. I saw Brandon, Catherine and Tony the next morning at church. I was sure to tell Catherine just how helpful they were and thanked Bran again. Brandon had told her there was still a lot that could be done at my place, which was true enough. They let me know later if I needed Brandon and his friends or maybe even Joe on Saturdays for a while, well, they could look into doing workouts at my place. Joe knew I used to teach some fitness classes out of my home and that I still had a large workout space with a home gym. So we agreed and later Joe confirmed the following Saturday they'd come do some more work for me after a workout in my home. So there was another chance for dress thrills, after all, why wouldn't I joint them? I won't go nearly so into detail for this day, but when they had finished what was left with the storage, which is all I had them do that day, we got our workout started. I remember I told them I was going to change first. I had been wearing a tame blouse and some slacks, but when I came back down I was wearing a short black pair of spandex gym shorts that stopped juuuust under my cheeks. Then I put on a sports bra that shows just enough cleave, and my black ASICS. As i walked in the room i took off my plumb bracelet, i had been wearing it again, and i set it to the side. When we got started we formed a couple rows and I stood in the front. Behind me was Josh, John and Dave, Joe to my right, myself in the middle, and Jason to my left. Needless to say once we started moving the back row got the first whole part of the show. But we did things where they basically all got to see. I even got to lead the workout for a while. I jumped, I pushed, I lunged, I squatted and I thrusted. I could feel them all tense up a bit from time to time when I looked at them, and I could feel them all look at me when I wasn't looking. I served home made cookies and lemonade when we were done. While we were talking and snacking i invited them over the next weekend to swim instead. We could get more done and all but it was just my way of showing gratitude. They agreed, and just before they left I said in an ever so naturally aloof way: "I had such a good time boys, thanks for giving me such a good workout!" With a smile as honest as pie on my face. About 30 minutes after they left I ended up spending some really good quality time with my wallbanger. Then we have yet another opportunity, yet a third round of dress thrills. They came back the next Saturday to swim. I wanted to take things to just the next level of risk. To kick it up a notch. My last two outfits might have been risque, a bit on the line, but still though, they made sense. Or at least didn't raise too many questions, even if my outfits had answered alot of questions without speaking a word about them. Now we were about to swim. If there's ever an excuse to be basically naked, it's while you're swimming, right? Right. Okay, so I wore a multi-cam bottom that had a natural shrink up and around my ass, stopping mid cheek. My top was multi-cam too, but basically was just a strip of cloth that barely covered muh tatas. It was so small in fact they almost might as well have been out. My nips and airies mighta been covered, but not much else was. I was a little afraid they'd pop completely out that day, but I was careful and thankfully they didn't. I also had my bracelet on. When they rang the doorbell this time, I wasn't as nervous as I had been the previous two times. I know I didn't say much about it, but it was a whole process. I felt relaxed and even comfortable in my body at that moment though. I will give more detail later, but in those moments of small talk I already had created a bond with them. They were all good, smart, and hard working.....and hot. Especially Joe and Brandon. They made me feel safe too. So, instead of answering the door in a pair of trunks and a tank top with my bikini underneath like I planned, I just answered the door in my bikini. I opened the door. They were all in their trunks with either white Tees or tanks. "Hello boys!" I said with the mildest amount of seduction in my voice. I immediately hoped they didn't notice. Then again I kinda hoped they did. As they all came in, Dave being the last and closing the door behind him, I go "water's fine out back" and began walking straight to the back sliding glass door to the pool. I was like the pied piper. They didn't say anything, I could just feel the concentration as they followed me out the door. It didn't take long to break the silence though. I just picked up a pitcher of tea and offered glasses, and we got to talking naturally and it was quickly almost like they forgot I was basically naked. Almost, but not quite. Because they couldn't and I knew it. It was actually a little bit chilly out to swim that day, but for some reason, nobody seemed to mind. I pretended I didn't notice my nipples hardening slightly through my top. I had set up a volleyball net and I watched them play. They all were showing off for me. Watching them all strike the ball as their muscles rippled, young and strong. Hearing them talk about sports, hearing them laugh, I soaked it all in and enjoyed it. And I swam with them, and splashed and got splashed, and played as you'd expect in the pool with a group of friends. In the meantime I was able to speak just fluidly enough and play just dumb enough to convince them I had no idea there was anything, uh, "wrong" me with having so few clothes on. In truth nobody brought it up, even though clearly everybody but me obviously noticed. At a point in time Jason really quickly lunged toward me in the water and I jumped back a bit. I saw Brandon in my peripheral as I started to move back, and let my left hand barely "slip" onto his groin. I laughed with Jason really hard because that really was a jump scare for me, and Bran thought I hadn't noticed at all what happened. I noticed though. It was impossible not to. Now there was no question: Brandon had a magical creature in his pants. The Leviathan...a magic meat dragon. After a while I went inside to grab a drink, and as I backed up from my fridge I legitimately hadn't noticed Joe behind me, waiting so he could also get a drink. So I opened the door and stepped back fairly quickly, just out of habit, when I felt my ass just absolutely CRASH into Joe. And I'm not talking about like "oh its so hot you ran into Joe" no. I mean I felt his hip bones crash into my back bone right before my bumper ass simultaneously knocked his big ass all the way down and I myself lost balance and also fell backwards. And I hit the ground hard too, like WHAM. But to be honest I was mostly just shocked and had the wind knocked out of me. I wasn't in much pain. I looked over at Joe, who was a little out of breath too. We were both fine, but the look on his face was crazy. According to him mine too, and I'm positive he's right. After a second or two of eye contact on the floor, he goes "I ever tell you I love your plumb?", referring to my bracelet. We both began to laugh and laugh and laugh. It wasn't the words themselves, it was how he said it. He sounded only a little flirtatious, but more so reassuring. It was a good little moment. I made us each a Bloody Mary and we went back outside and had a good time. I could have sucked his dick while I was making his drink though, I remember thinking that distinctly. And so after yet another night of fun and play I sent them all off. Then I had another euphoric jack off session to them. I won again. Another good night in my toybox. I got to talking to Catherine and she asked me if there was anything else that could be done, and I said while there was plenty, unless she'd have him do some property work for me then honestly there wasn't much I could think of. She knew exactly what I was talking about. My husband and I owned a country house with some acreage a few hours south of town. She also knew of the work I was talking about too. I had mentioned it once before in the past. There was a lot of brush and some fallen trees that needed to be cleared, some maintenance on a shed and some other minor things. Bran said he didn't see why he and his friends couldn't. His mother said she had no idea if his father would let him out of town that weekend. But low and behold I got a text from Cathy, her husband encouraged it. "That kind of work will be good for him." Joe had experience doing that kind of work, he'd be able to oversee them besides. We were in early April at this point, and it looked like I had an entire weekend of my little game booked with the boys, who were all coming. They were Bran's best friends. I was SO excited. Too excited. Quietly excited. But all the same I felt something turn in my mind, some kind of feeling things were about to change. I also felt an intuition to just lean into what I was doing anyway. I felt myself, yet again, dismiss my own apprehension. I didn't think much more about it. Suddenly in one week I would be embarking on an adventure. At the time I thought of it as an adventure with new friends, and a personal adventure of private (if not outwardly inappropriate) gratification in liu of my derelict husband. What I didn't realize is that this would turn into the adventure of my lifetime. One week. Not even, not really. But basically. One week.

Okay, so since September last year I have been using something I like to call 'The magic book' or 'the book of deeds done, and those still to be won'. It is essentially a bullet journal I guess, but without the frills. I use it purely to make sure I do the things I want to do.
I have been largely successful with this. I have managed to do it every single day without fail, as long as something didn't come up that was out of my control. I have difficult things on there that I do daily too, like one of the rhings I do first thing in the morning is take a cold shower. Again, this I do every single day without fail, other than times where things happen that is outside of my control.
I say this because I feel like I can stick to things. I have the ability and discipline to stick to hard things and do them just because I have told.myself I would.
There is one exception, however.
I cannot for the life of me seem to stick with any goals that determine what the hell I am going to do with my life.
I am a 34 year old male with 3 children and a partner that requires a lot of help due to medical issues and mental health issues. I work as a HGV driver at the moment but I am deeply unsatisfied with my personal situation. I crave the independence of working for myself and my mind is tuned toward the creative side of things.
I have many things that I would like to do professionally and I get myself hyped up for one and start to delve in to and act up on making steps towards this goal, and then my motivation plummets when I see how hard it is to actually sustain a life from these things. So I flit to the next one and the same thing happens, and the next one, and the next one.
This seems to happen until I wind up full cycle back to my first idea and the process loops again. I feel so stupid. I can see it's happening but I don't know why or how to stop it. I wish I had the.. grit... I guess to just fucking do it anyway. But maybe I'm terrified of making the wrong choice. I don't know.
All I know is that I crave a creative life. Novelist, game creator, freelance writer, musician, entrepreneur... I have ideas and certain abilities for all f these things but I just can't stick to bloody anything to do with any of them.
Any advice or input would be great. I feel like I am going a little mad

Looking for recommendations for black drawstring pants that have:
-Drawstring waist (duh) -Full zip or full button fly -Prefer five pocket, but coin pocket isn’t a must have -Patch-style (preferred) or flap back pockets (no chino slit style pockets or pocketless pants, these make a weak rear end look even more saggy IMO) -Fit similar to a Levi’s 511 or 501 - fitted but not skinny and not baggy/relaxed -Durable fabric with a little stretch and weight like a cotton/synthetic blend or canvas (no nylon, windbreaker, hiking, sweatpants or athletic lightweight material)
I’m a slim/average build 41 year old male, 5’8” height and about 158lbs. Usually wear 30”x30” pants and size small shirts. I have a lot of spine and hip pain issues (bone spurs, bulged discs, degenerative disc disease - thanks, genetics!) and I work in retail so I’m on my feet all day and end up on the couch (or floor) at night. I find that wearing jeans/stiffer pants with a belt exacerbates my pain and problems, so I’m on the hunt for something more comfortable, adaptable and forgiving. My footwear of choice is low top Vans or running shoes by On, Nike or Adidas and I usually wear my pants cuffed once or twice.
I’ve tried: https://roark.com/products/layover-traveler-pant-mens-pants-rp313 The shorts version of these are great but the pants are oddly tight in the lower leg/calf area
Looking at: https://topodesigns.com/products/dirt-pants-mens?variant=42998589751349 Want to give them a try, but I’m concerned they’re going to fit similarly to the Roark pants.
Googling all of the features I’m in search of provides a lot of results, but none have hit the mark quite right.
Any suggestions welcome!

If you are also into Myers-Briggs/Jung personality theory, I am an ENTP; late last summer, my boss assigned my group to act as attorneys to a seeming ISTJ leader. So not a work project from which I can readily disentangle. We are in different states. In hindsight, I think I briefly became an LO for my client. He seemed to become attracted to me from the first day that we met on Teams. He regularly raised issues with me, even small ones. He would ignore anyone else in my group, even though we have a group email, and direct his inquiries to me by name. He would stare at me in Teams meetings, swallow hard and announce to the group that he needed to have a meeting with me.
When we met in person in October, we had an encounter that caused me to develop an intense attraction to him. He and I gave a successful presentation to the people who work for him. He had seemed very nervous about it - I’m entertaining the idea that he may be high-functioning on the spectrum, what they used to call Asperger’s. Given the content, I largely had to present the bulk of it. Which I was used to doing, and it all went very well. I had to answer questions from the audience and tried to inject humor into the whole format.
Afterwards, he came straight to me to talk. He seemed so happy and relieved. As I went to leave, he followed me, cornered me in the hall to talk, got very close and made intense eye contact with me. I was utterly blown away by his eyes. After I returned home, he initiated more contacts with me late in the day and used the resulting conversations to ask me personal questions, including whether I was dating a young attorney in my group. (No.) We found that we had a number of important beliefs in common.
There was an intense time over the holidays, as he lost a parent, and at the same time one of his employees, an older woman whose main skill is that she has hung around for decades, made what I can only call a coup attempt to take over his group. That did not succeed. However, I received a call from headquarters that they had heard from one of LO’s subordinate managers that this employee was going to cause further trouble if he did not do things her way. The call also included the fact that his employee was threatened by him receiving advice from me and did not wish him to do so.
Shortly after New Year’s, LO left me an elaborate voicemail that went on for about 90 seconds, claiming that he had a work issue. He told me to call him anytime on a particular number, which is his personal cell phone. When I called back, he asked instead about my holidays. He actually brought up a B&B in my state that is owned by an acquaintance of his. It seemed that LO was planning to ask me to meet him there when he came here on a business trip. He appeared to be waiting for me to ask him why he was talking about a B&B, but I did not. Seemed pretty obvious to me. Somehow, I brought up the call I had received from headquarters. I viewed it as a challenge we could meet together. And frankly, I wanted a little bit of support from LO in dealing with this employee he supervises. Instead, LO said, this isn’t how I thought this call was going to go. That indicated he had indeed had this whole plan laid out for us, and he was rather anxious. I had also learned that week that he is actually married, but of course I had caught feelings before I knew this.
The next time we spoke, on a major ethics snafu by his troubled employee, LO told me I should check out the B&B sometime. He asked me if I was at work or home and I said neither. And that seemed to upset him. LO said curtly, I’ve taken up too much of your time.
The last time we spoke one on one was about six weeks ago, initiated by LO. (I have never initiated with him except on work, and then only rarely.). Again, his excuse was a supposed small work issue that he really didn’t ever follow up on thereafter. LO began the call by being very formal with me. I mentioned that everyone else in his type of position in the organization has an attorney in their leadership meetings, and that part of the ethics mistakes in his group may be because they didn’t have a lawyer in their meeting. LO became rude at the idea of me being in that meeting. He said that perhaps a local male attorney who has six months of experience should go. (This is the same attorney he had asked me months before if I was dating.) I blurted out, “what is your preference,” as I was very shocked at his rudeness and that he would suggest such a thing. LO had previously told me I had to attend any meeting that this junior attorney attended. LO responded by raising his voice and saying, “I don’t have a preference, I don’t have a preference.” Like I was trying to pry out of him his feelings for me. I replied that it was his decision. LO said he would have to socialize it with the very employee who had attacked him previously. So I actually didn’t think I would end up in the meeting.
The next business day, though, LO created his own invite for me and then spent hours telling his employee why. I found that whole thing rather insulting and weak on his part. Now that I am in this meeting, LO no longer initiates one on one contact with me. Still, when I hear his voice, I melt. Even my cat melts. She loves the sound of his voice and comes around when she hears him. I was hopeful, if I continued by not initiating contact with him, that this LE would go away. But it hasn’t.
Yesterday, LO started getting aggressive by email with the junior attorney, challenging his opinion. LO did not copy me. Any insights on how to handle these circumstances would be very much appreciated.

Orientation Speech by Dr. Philip Lockley, head Zoologist with Greybaron Zoo.
Good day everyone. I realize most of you are new to our zoo, and that, because of the recent unfortunate events that took place here last week. I welcome you, though I wish it was under better circumstances.
I'm here to address that event, and help create protocols that will prevent this kind of incident in the future.
Of course you are aware that our zoo, our facility, was given exclusive rights to present and house creatures that were thought to be mere myths or legends until only 2 years ago. In fact, the general public was only informed of the existence of real, living, Sirens only 8 months ago. Before that, their existence was a secret closely guarded by the government of Greece and their Navy.
The world population of living Sirens is estimated to be about 1,600 And those still in the wild are in a closely guarded sanctuary area of small islands and shoals near the Grecian shoreline. So, obviously with such a limited population, we were overjoyed to be selected to present these magnificent creatures to the world. We were given 6 specimens total; 2 males, Zues and Poseidon, and 4 females, Hera, Persephone, Aphrodite, and Athena. Hopes were that our facility might be large enough and have resources enough to start a captive breeding program.
Yes, I am aware that most of this history was already covered in our orientation and again in your hiring documents, but it is imperative that we review this AGAIN, so we can prevent another disaster.
Anyways...yes, the specimens we recieved all appeared to be female at first glance, but that is because both sexes have characteristics of human female anatomy. In reality the easiest means of distinguishing the sexes is by the tail feathers. The males have longer and darker plumage than the females. In time you will recognize this easily of any Siren wild or otherwise.
Remember; These. Are. Not. Human. They are not related to humans. They look human, and mimic human speech and song, but only as a means of predation. Strictly speaking, Sirens are birds. Also, they are the only known species to be studied with a quantifiable means of telepathy. This of course, is how they are able to "sing" about human desires and lead people to become their prey. Though countermeasures to their songs exist, it is still unclear how Sirens use their telepathy to understand human desires.
Always use the provided PPE when within visual and audio range of these creatures. Our understanding of their telepathic nature comes from years of study by our partners in the Greek government. It is actually more akin to euphoric hypnosis than actual telepathy, but it is dangerous no less. The goggles and headphones provided will react to Siren calls and songs with sounds and visual stimuli to counteract their effects. The Sirens will see in your head, but you will be free from any negative effects.
Now, the Elephant in the room... Last week we tragically lost 4 of our Sirens. Poseidon, Athena, Hera, and Persephone. A local Furry club came the zoo for an event. Almost everyone in the club removed their PPE and the "unique" thoughts and desires the group was having toward the Sirens caused the Sirens to panic, attack each other, and oddly, self harm. We can only speculate what those degenerates were truly thinking of doing with our Sirens to scare them so badly. Unfortunately this event happened in full view of the public, and we have a long road to recovery in terms of public image and in terms of recovery for the remaining Sirens as well. We have, however, learned from this event as well. Zeus of course was badly injured compared to Aphrodite, but both of them have been deeply traumatized and only time will tell if they can recover completely.
Going forward, when Zeus and Aphrodite have recovered and we have permission to display them again, there will be a hard limit of six spectators at a time. Spectator PPE will be mandatory and guests who remove their PPE for any reason will be removed immediately. Outside of schools, no special interest groups will be granted special permissions to view the Sirens. Also, because we can't discriminate any particular groups, zoo staff will be trained to look for signs of guests that may be problematic to our Sirens in the future. Cat or dog ear headbands, wearing animal collars, clothing with excessive, colorful fur, and obviously wearing animal tails.
That, for now, is all we have to say about the Sirens. Again, welcome to Greybaron Zoo. I hope your expertise and knowledge will help us everyone learn and grow. And I hope for a better future moving forward.
...fucking furries....

Let's talk about the "Man or Bear" thought experiment: If you were alone in the woods, would you rather encounter a bear or a man? Answers to that hypothetical question have sparked an ongoing and debate about why the vast majority say they would feel more comfortable choosing a bear.
The topic has been hotly discussed for weeks, with men and women everywhere chiming in with their thoughts all over social media (https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/news/2024/04/30/man-bear-tiktok-debate-explaine73519921007/).
As someone who is autistic and takes things literally, here are my thoughts:
* Worldwide, there are about 40 bear attacks a year, with a majority of bear attacks occurring because humans were threatening their offspring.
* You have one fatal black bear attack per year in the US.
* You have almost 1 in 2.1 million chances of experiencing a bear attack.
* 48 Bear attacks have been reported from 2000-2017.
* California hasn’t seen a fatal bear attack since 1986
Source: https://worldanimalfoundation.org/advocate/bear-attacks-statistics/
Let's go now to the whole controversy of women being safer around men: * One out of every three women will be abused at some point in her life.

• A woman is more likely to be killed by a male partner (or former partner) than any other person.
• Battering is the single major cause of injury to women, exceeding rapes, muggings, Of the total domestic violence homicides, about 75% of the victims were killed as they attempted to leave the relationship or after the relationship had ended.
• Seventy-three percent of male abusers were abused as children.
• Thirty percent of Americans say they know a woman who has been physically abused by her husband in the past year, Women of all races are equally vulnerable to violence by an intimate partner, on average, more than three women are murdered by their husbands or partners in this country every day,
• Intimate partner violence a crime that largely affects women. In 1999, women accounted for 85% of the victims of intimate partner violence,
• On average, a woman will leave an abusive relationship seven times before she leaves for good.
• Approximately 75% of women who are killed by their batterers are murdered when they attempt to leave or after they have left an abusive relationship (Source: https://domesticabuseshelter.org/domestic-violence/).

So let’s go back to this thought experiment and get to the bottom of why I actually take offense to this as a man (A neurodivergent one no less): Are you trying to get society to hold men accountable for their behavior around women by trying to argue that women are more likely to be murdered by male humans than experience a bear attack?
Did anyone ask the bear if he/she wanted to be used in a thought experiment? What happened to the bear's bodily autonomy?!? Do bears even have it? So women should have a right to choose to have an abortion but bears have no say in whether they want to be compared to a human male/potential abuser and that's okay with you guys?
This thought experiment is just plain 'ole dehumanization at its finest. It's the result of humanity trading God for a lie and worshipping nature instead of the Creator (Romans 1:19-23).
It's also eugenics. It implies that male humans cannot be trusted around female humans and that therefore, male humans are unfit to live in this world. We might as well just treat them like invasive animals and fill our prisons and insane asylums with them. After all, they're more dangerous than bears, according to the author of this thought experiment.
We are not bears.
Who came up with this? The Deep State? Is Bill Gates trying to kill us all by trying to turn us against each other by having his agents manipulating each other with thought experiments that shamelessly compare male humans to bears?
If you ask me, as a Christian I will say this is what happens when we reject General Revelation and reject God as the basis of all morality (Romans 1:18-32, Romans 2:14). We start thinking it's morally appropriate to compare men to bears in a bid to make men out to be brainless, violent warmongerers in an attempt to get society to hate on manhood.
I am made in God's image (Genesis 1:31). I am NOT a bear.

My partner (55f) and I (36f) met and instantly started dating two years ago—I recently moved into her home. She is spectacular and everything I hoped for in a partner. Our age gap relationship has a complimentary element, and isn’t an issue unless I dwell on my own fears about being alone towards the end of my life.
She was married to a man for many decades and they share two great children, 23m & 21f. Long story short, the ex husband went off the deep end, had multiple affairs, and has caused what seems to be serious damage and hurt to this awesome family. He is still in their life, but largely unreliable. My partner carriers most of the emotional weight when it comes to the kids. She’s a natural fixer and planner, trying to make the conditions just right for everyone to be unburdened. It seems she harbors a lot of guilt for what the divorce (5 years ago) has done to the kids.
I’m not a parent and have never desired to be one, so this arrangement works for me (see: bonus adult/mentor). I have mad respect for the parents of the world. Truly!
I get along fine with the daughter, and we’ve had sweet moments, but it’s new and is going to take a lot of time to actually develop our bond. Their dynamic is challenging for me to understand. Upon moving in, and as we anticipate her daughters visit home from college, my partners requests are:
-1. Me moving out of the bathroom we share to a different bathroom, so that the daughter can feel like nothing has changed in her bathroom and she can share that bathroom with her mom. This is temporary and I can move back after she leaves.
-2. An unwillingness to put the exercise equipment in the daughter’s room when she’s truly not here 99.9% of the time for wanting to keep her room the same.
-3. My understanding that the daughter might want my partner to sleep in the same bed as her while she’s home. Now granted the daughter had a severe anxiety issue post-divorce that lasted many weeks where she needed to attach her body to her mom. Things are better but she sometimes still wants the physical closeness.
-4. Dialed in time just the two of them without me around the first 1.5 days.
The idea is that if we can create a great first impression of the daughter’s home that has now changed with me living in it, it will bring her toward me/us.
It sometimes feels like so many external factors outside my partner and I impact our relationship. And, that my partner at this moment isn’t able to hold space for her identities as a mother and partner the way I desire. Admittedly, I’ve never dated someone with kids, and I’m used to being the priority. AITA for not understanding this dynamic?
Note: this doesn’t come up with the older male child as much
TLDR: I don’t understand the dynamic with my partner and her adult children, and sometimes feel I have to minimize myself to ease the transition and focus on the long-game.

Hi.
Firstly, I'm 33 - male - 5"11' from Sydney Australia. The only medication I take is a cholesterol tab and Prep.
I recently (1 week ago today) had a surgery to drain an abscess close to my butt hole (gross). When I was sent home the only care instructions I was provided was to salt bath 3 times a day and after bowel movements. They told me nothing else about the recovery or the wound in general.
It wasn't until I took a picture of it myself after bathing that I realized I had a rather large open wound between my legs about 2 inches long. And what appears to be a kind of gauze stuffed inside it.
I don't feel any resting pain in the area but obviously if I sit wrong I do. The blood/yellowish discharge each day seems to be the same or similar since I was sent home which I manage by wearing disposable briefs that I replace after each salt bath.
All this to say. I worry that Im not doing enough or don't know what to actually do with the wound. How limited should my movement be. Should I avoid sitting all together? What do I do with the gauze that remains in the wound. What should I expect in terms of healing time.. Or when the bleeding/discharge starts to lessen.
Any help or guidance would be very much appreciated
Sorry late edit:: I also have no idea what constitutes a salt bath so I've just been adding a cup of salt to a quater filled bathtub and submerge my butt in it for roughly 20 minutes each time. I also won't always have access to the bath so is there an alternative way to 'salt bath' in a regular shower?